Who prevents legislators in Chile from regulating the self-cultivation of medical cannabis by patients
The lobbying structures of Chile,
realizing that a potential buyer of pharmacological preparations that exploit
the medicinal properties of the hemp plant in order to improve the quality of
the therapeutically active hemp elements used and significantly reduce the
price, will be able to legally grow plants in their own households, blocked the
adoption of such changes in the current legislation.
With a certain frequency, the editorial staff of the
specialized electronic edition of national hemp growers focuses the attention
of our respected readers and listeners on the fact that in various countries of
the world, legislators, thinking about the needs of patients, are lobbying not
only for the possibility of using pharmacological preparations made on the basis
of hemp, but also regulate the legality of cultivating a plant at home.
households. Chile's experience on this issue is illustrative for a number of
reasons.
The Mixed Commission of the Chilean Senate approved the
inclusion in the drug law of an updated version of the article protecting the
right of patients who use medical cannabis for treatment to grow plants in
their own households. This is a political initiative that has been lobbied for
years by a group of legislators led by the executive director of the Daya
Foundation, Assemblywoman Ana Maria Gazmouri, to end the police and prosecution
of patients using the therapeutic properties of the cannabis plant grown in
their own households.
The possibility of self-cultivation of medical cannabis in
their own households for patients using the therapeutic properties of the hemp
plant on the basis of documents issued by medical professionals was included in
the development of amendments to the Anti-Narcotics Law, despite the fact that
this particular legal act already regulates the possibility of personal use of
the hemp plant for medicinal purposes. Despite this, the current version of
this regulation is set out in such a way that it allows law enforcement
officers to prosecute patients for growing hemp plants at home.
“That is why we were forced to make changes to the current
novel of legislation,” deputy Gazmuri said during a conversation with the
press. Having achieved the approval of the Mixed Commission, now the draft law
needs to go through a plenary session, but its initiators assure that the vote
is secured. “We know that the draft law will be ratified,” Ana Maria Gazmuri
assures.
Commentary of the specialists of the
Association “Ukrainian Industrial Hemp”
A measure to allow patients to grow medical cannabis in
their own households was approved with broad support from Chile's legislators
back in 2018, but was rejected by the Senate Health Commission three years
later. It is noteworthy that a legislative initiative guaranteeing the safe
cultivation of medical cannabis for Chilean patients in need, approved by 80%
of the Chamber of Deputies, was rejected by the Senate Health Commission by
only three votes. The bill amended the country's Health Code so that a doctor's
prescription for medical cannabis was sufficient to prevent the police from
confiscating plants cultivated by patients on their own. The rejection of the
bill by the Commission allowed prosecution of patients who cultivated medical
cannabis in their own households, which they use for treatment.
I would like to draw special attention to the fact that the
use of the law by Chilean patients in the cultivation of the cannabis plant in
households was rejected by only three representatives of the Health Commission
of the country's senate. Those. lobbying structures of Chile, realizing that a
potential buyer of pharmacological preparations exploiting the medicinal
properties of a hemp plant in order to improve the quality of the
therapeutically active hemp elements used and significantly reduce the price, will
be able to legally grow plants in their own households, blocked the adoption of
such changes in the current legislation.
A question for those who have heard or know about the existence of a draft law initiated by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. In which novella did the lobbying structures of the pharmacological industry provide opportunities for the cultivation of national varieties of technical hemp for therapeutic purposes in their own households. Understanding the essence of what is happening, the propaganda theses of its lobbyists that the draft law was prepared in the interests of Ukrainian patients/consumers are extremely simply leveled.
