Rada is asked to legalize marijuana for medical purposes

Considering the exclusiveness of the properties of technical hemp therapeutic orientation, the leaders of the hemp market in Europe, Asia and North America show interest in its cultivation and processing. Moreover, they understand that working with this raw material will allow filling the pharmaceutical market with a cheap and high-quality product that has a serious therapeutic effect.

Public organizations urged the Verkhovna Rada to resolve the issue of using cannabis for medical and scientific purposes. On January 30, 16 public organizations registered a petition on the Verkhovna Rada website. Among the signatories  public organizations "Ukrainian Association of Medical Cannabis Drugs Control 100% Life Joy of movement Children with hemophilia Patients of UkraineAfina. Women against cancer and others. In order for the parliament to consider this petition, it must collect signatures of at least 25 thousand supporters within three months.

The issue of cannabis legalization for Ukraine is not new. As early as 2013, the government adopted a State Drug Policy Strategy, which recognized the need to explore the prospects for the medical use of cannabinoids as analgesics and other drugs. But shifts in this direction did not happen. ”, Told iAgro Victoria Podvorchanskaya, an adviser to the Asters law firm. At the same time, according to her, controlled production, distribution and use of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes has been permitted by the UN anti-drug conventions since the sixties of the last century.

Potential consumers

Cannabis-based drugs are used in many countries to treat chronic pain, epilepsy, anorexia, post-traumatic syndrome, arthritis and rheumatism, asthma, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and others. However, as noted by the representative of the Ukrainian Association of Medical Cannabis, Gennady Shabas, in Ukraine, not only the use of such drugs, but also the research of cannabinoids has been banned. “How can you, if there are 2 million patients who need medical cannabis, still don’t resolve this issue?” he wonders.

In addition, cannabis is used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military personnel in the United States, Canada and Israel. According to Svyatoslav Prokhorov, a veteran of the ATO, an assistant at the Department of Prosthetic Dentistry of the National Medical University named after A.A. Praying pilgrims, doctors from these countries are ready to share their experience with Ukraine. He noted that in Ukraine, the status of the participant in the hostilities had already received 340 thousand soldiers, 80% of which can show PTSD.

Legislative base

Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Musiy told iAgro that back in April 2016, together with his colleagues, he drafted and registered in the Parliament a bill No. 4533, which provides for the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes. The bill has already received the approval of the Verkhovna Rada Health Committee, but until now it has been lying under the cloth for the third year they don’t want to put it on the agenda.

This bill also provides for the legalization of the cultivation of cannabis, which will be the raw material for the manufacture of medicines. Ukraine is not only capable of providing itself with such raw materials, but could also be its exporter. This is a very good and profitable business. The only thing you need is & ndash; exclude the use of raw materials for purposes other than intended, so that it does not fall among drug addicts. And for this you need strict licensing of such activities, the issuance of permits, liability for violation of the rules of cultivation. If desired, everything can be done to avoid abuse, he said.

Control

According to Victoria Podvorchanskaya, using cannabis and its substances for medical and scientific purposes in accordance with international conventions, we can talk only about their controlled circulation. Patients receive legal and safe access to treatment with cannabinoid prescription, under the strict supervision and control of the state. And this access is much more difficult than access to the usual cannabis on the black market, which exists in any country, she explains.

Professor, doctor of medical sciences, scientific director of the clinic Athos Yuri Pakin also believes that the legalization of medical cannabis is quite acceptable. After all, heavier drugs have already been legalized for medical use by morphine, he says, tramadol. But cautions against freaking out using marijuana. It is believed that marijuana is no worse than beer or other alcoholic beverages. This is a mistake, because in terms of drug addiction, it has a higher degree of addiction than any alcoholic beverages, said Pakin. And clarifies that the potential abuse that may occur after the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes is already the area of ​​responsibility not of medicine, but of the service involved in controlling the spread of drugs and the police.

Traditionally, cannabis production is a licensed activity. Some countries maintain a state monopoly on the production of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes, some allow private companies under state control. There are working models in the world, therefore the way for Ukraine will also be found & raquo ;, & ndash; explains Victoria Podvorchanskaya.

Business and industry

According to Victoria Podvorchanskaya, cannabis production for medical purposes cannot be identified with a common industrial hemp segment (growing technical cannabis), which has its own essential features. Some European countries began importing medical cannabis from the Netherlands or Canada while they were building up their own production. In addition, much depends on exactly what forms of cannabis and its substances will be allowed, she said. And he adds that if we talk only about the use of cannabis and its derivatives for medical and scientific purposes, it is unlikely that we will talk about large industrial volumes, because the amount of the product and the range of patients are limited. But the potential of this segment is definitely there.

Association President Ukrainian Technical Hemp Alexander Ignatyuk doubts that the petition will help to move the adoption of the bill, which was submitted to the Rada almost three years ago, off the ground. However, according to him, this problem has another solution that the association is working on. It is about the production of products from the technical therapeutic hemp. In such a cannabis, the content of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) does not exceed 0.08%, and therefore the plant does not fall under existing prohibitions, whereas the content of other drug-free cannabinoids is the same as in medical cannabis.

Products made from such hemp with the use of conductors and catalysts are in demand among consumers. For example, tea, seasonings, biologically active and nutritional supplements that have a powerful therapeutic effect. According to Ignatyuk's preliminary estimate, the demand of Ukraine’s domestic market for such products may be about 50 tons per year. For comparison, Germany consumes about 250 tons annually.

Ignatyuk is sure that in order to establish such a production, there is no need to change the laws. It is enough to make changes to one resolution of the Cabinet. On approval of the list of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors . This will give an impetus to the development of cannabis work. The cultivation of technical hemp can be found for a dozen companies in depressed agricultural regions of the country, and even more companies will be involved in its processing and sales.

In addition, the use of domestic technical cannabis will protect the Ukrainian market from imports of synthetic cannabinoids. Given the exclusiveness of the properties of technical therapeutic cannabis, interest in its cultivation and processing is shown by the leaders of the hemp market in Europe, Asia and North America. Moreover, they understand that working with this raw material will allow filling the pharmaceutical market with a cheap and high-quality product that has a serious therapeutic effect, he said.