Hemp fiasco (video of TRK "Ukraine") - afterword
Due to the very limited timing, the one-hour interview was shortened in a TV spot to a few phrases that cannot provide a comprehensive picture of what is happening and the position of national cannabis growers on the above issues, voiced by the president of the national profile association.
In early childhood, when a child cannot explain, even if confusingly and not very coherently, what he wants, little boys or girls use an ingenious trick to get their way - cry and shout. Thus, they appeal to the feelings of adults or people who love them in order to achieve their goal.
Emotional component
The situation with lobbying efforts of individual stakeholders related to the regulation of the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of cannabis is extremely reminiscent of the behavior of a small child who noisily draws attention to the problem (constant information support both in the media or social networks and the organization of various kinds of PR-actions on this topic ), the appeal is not to the arguments of reason (logic, economics), but to feelings and emotions ( originally, draft law No. 10313 of 20.05.2019 was called “to ensure the fundamental human right to life”, and now (even if it can, forgive me the girl's family and herself) by “Sofiyka's Law” .
It is very funny to look at the fact when, without sane arguments confirming the need to adopt legislation in specific lobbying formulations, they appeal to “how you will look cancer patients in the eye”. I can proudly say that specialists from the profile association of national cannabis growers can demonstrate on facts what has been done in order not only to improve the lives of patients, but also to create conditions for treatment with national raw materials not so much abroad, but also in our country. In particular, 5 years ago, together with the leadership of the State Drug Control Service at that time, the profile association of Ukrainian cannabis growers took an active part in lobbying for bill No. 4533 dated 04/27/2016 , within which, for the first time in Ukraine, the issue of regulating the use of a hemp plant was raised for medical and scientific purposes. Already within the framework of the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control, the creation of a group of experts was initiated to amend the current regulatory framework specifically on issues related to the use of the therapeutic properties of the plant. In addition, since 2016, as far as possible, both on the territory of our country and abroad, we have been actively working on this topic . This is also why in Ukraine there are and are already being grown on an industrial scale varieties of technical hemp of therapeutic orientation , which by their characteristics are many times more powerful than medical hemp, marijuana, and even more so various synthetic substances that mimic the reaction of the human body to natural cannabinoids, while being at the same time at least neuro- and cardiotoxic.
From the emotional component, we move on to the logic and facts that take place in economically developed countries regarding the adoption of a legal framework regulating the possibilities for using the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant. I would like to focus the attention of our dear readers and listeners on the fact that in civilized countries (France, Denmark , as well as a number of others), before making changes to the current regulatory framework, the issue is studied not only comprehensively, but also on the basis of the results obtained in the framework of the pilot programs. They are needed not only in order to make a decision whether this or that initiative makes sense, but also in order to develop the necessary amount of analytical and statistical materials, to work out application methods, to train personnel, to decide whether the proposed therapeutically active ones work or do not work. the elements of the plant or the methods of their use for the treatment of specific diseases, which is more effective, and than the patient's body, under the guise of treatment, is banally poisoned. In the course of this kind of experimental or pilot projects, at least the following aspects related to the use of the therapeutic properties of a plant are studied - economic, medical, social.
Economic
The first question that must be put to every citizen of our country is how the adoption of this or that regulatory legal act will be reflected in his personal finances. The answer to this question lies on the surface and you just need to look at the already implemented experience of this kind in Germany, the Czech Republic, as well as a number of other European countries that have regulated the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of cannabis for medical purposes. In the above countries, a mechanism already lobbied by pharmacological companies to compensate for the cost of the drugs they produce, made on the basis of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant from the state budget, is in force. In fact, the next stage after regulating the possibility of using drugs based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis is lobbying for the adoption of the next package of regulatory legal acts, according to which their cost is paid from the state budget (this is despite the fact that in Germany up to 40% of patients are “free” using cannabis-based pharmaceuticals are being discarded due to the fact that the negative side effects outweigh the positive results that are obtained during their use). I have a question for the "servants of the sovereign" - why will the state personally take separate taxes from my pocket in order to pay the cost of a pharmacological drug that I do not need?
The next range of issues considered in the framework of pilot programs is whether national enterprises can cope with the list of problems that should be addressed in the framework of such kind of pilot projects. Where national companies can solve a set of the above tasks, a highly profitable export-oriented industry is formed around them, or separate structures are created that specialize in solving such issues, for example, as it is implemented in Italy, Great Britain , and the Netherlands.
A significant mistake is the granting of the privileged right to enter the market to foreign companies, as it is implemented in Germany or in the countries of South America. The German example is extremely illustrative, which suggests that Canadian and Dutch exporters of cannabis leaves and inflorescences or extracts of non-drug cannabinoids (primarily cannabidiol) do not release national producers to the local market by various administrative frauds, and if over time, structures that specialize in growing and processing raw materials with enormous therapeutic potential, all of them are affiliated structures of organizations whose headquarters are located in Canada or the Netherlands.
There is one more aspect that few people talk about, but which should be of interest to patients. In the course of the sale in pharmacies of hemp raw materials with significant therapeutic properties or pharmacological preparations made on its basis, in addition to the retail margin of the pharmacy chain itself, there is a hidden margin on the part of the state. In particular, (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte, BfArM) Germany officially announces that it sells medical hemp flowers to pharmacies at a price of € 4.3 per gram, while the cost of raw materials for BfArM is about € 2.3 euros .
Medical
There is a significant amount of research that suggests that acids, which during processing are converted into cannabinoids, are many times more potent in their therapeutic properties than from derivatives . For example, the Naftusya water, 15 minutes after it is obtained from the source, almost completely loses its healing properties. Those. leaves and inflorescences plucked directly on the field and used by the consumer / patient for an extremely short period of time (salad, smoothie, juice, etc.) are many times more powerful in their therapeutic properties than what this raw material will be even when it will be brought to a facility where the plant can be properly dried.
More than once attention has been focused on the “ensemble effect”, which is present in hemp raw materials and has only a trace character in extracts of specific plant elements, and even more so in synthetic cannabinoids. It must be borne in mind that during the extraction, from 60 to 90% of the therapeutic properties inherent in the plant by nature itself are destroyed.
Including therefore, it can be argued that a patent that costs hundreds or thousands of percent of earnings on a pharmacological preparation containing a trace amount of therapeutically active substances and the cost of which “starts” at $ 500 per month cannot be compared with the therapeutic effect , which provides the leaves and inflorescences of therapeutic hemp varieties used directly in the field or products made from hemp raw materials, assuming minimal exposure to temperature, pressure, precursors, etc. - i.e. using leaves and flowers as a seasoning, leafy greens, teas, etc.
Social
It must be stated with deep regret that the majority of the population of our country can no longer be classified as poor, but as beggars. It hurts to look at people who are unable to spend $ 200-300 on medicines. That is why the specialized association of national cannabis growers in the course of work on the bill No. 5596 of 06/02/2021 p. One of the questions raised was the need to regulate the possibility of growing "technical hemp" not only by legal entities (as currently prescribed by the current legislation), but also by individuals. Those. Having received the necessary package of permits for this, a citizen of our country, having purchased for $ 3 or $ 5 a kilogram of seeds already included in the State Register of plant varieties suitable for distribution in Ukraine, will be able to legally grow 6-10 hectare of technical plants (absolutely socially safe) cannabis with a therapeutic focus (with enormous therapeutic properties) and use what nature has laid in the plant without a huge number of intermediaries in the form of pharmacological companies, pharmacy chains, etc.
We focus on the fact that the state should create equal conditions for all segments of modern cannabis growing, and the market will put everything in its place. When the "penny cost" of growing on their own personal plot or tea worth 20-30 hryvnia with huge therapeutic properties on the counter of an ordinary grocery store is compared with a pharmaceutical product based on the therapeutic properties of a plant, then the consumer will vote with the hryvnia he has and only in an exceptional case will go to the pharmacy for a drug (food, dietary supplements, creams, ointments, pharmaceuticals), which has already demonstrated its characteristics to the competent authorities in our country and is safe for the body.
It was the aforementioned theses that were voiced to the TRK Ukraina correspondent in the course of the interview. Unfortunately, due to the very limited timing, the one-hour interview was shortened in the television story to a few phrases that cannot provide a comprehensive picture of what is happening and the position of national cannabis growers on the above issues, voiced by the president of the national profile association.