President Zelensky Signs Bill Legalizing Medical Cannabis In Ukraine


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President Zelensky Signs Bill Legalizing Medical Cannabis In Ukraine
President Zelensky Signs Bill Legalizing Medical Cannabis In Ukraine

President Zelensky has signed a bill officially legalizing medical cannabis in Ukraine. (Photo by … [+] Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

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Millions of patients and military veterans could stand to benefit from a new law officially legalizing medical cannabis in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, less than a year after the bill’s first reading in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament), President Vladamir Zelensky signed the legislation permitting the prescription of cannabis-based medicines for conditions including pain, cancer and PTSD.

Both President Zelensky and Health Minister Viktor Liashko have publicly expressed their support for the change in law, claiming it could help the country deal with the trauma of two years of Russian war.

The Ministry of Health has estimated that the number of people in need of these treatments has “tripled” since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with up to six million people now living with not only PTSD and other mental health issues, but chronic pain related to their injuries and cancer.

In a Facebook post from June 7, 2022, Liashko said there was “no time to wait” to approve the bill that would allow more patients to access a “necessary treatment for cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the war.”

But activists and campaigners had already been pushing for policy change for several years, with two previous bills proving unsuccessful.

Spurred on by the conflict and the impending mental health crisis, the bill passed its first reading in the Verkhovna Rada in July 2023.

Despite delays to the second reading due to a large number of amendments put forward by opposition parties, in December 2023 officials voted to approve the bill with 248 MPs voting in favor of legalization.

“Undoubtedly, the adoption of the law on the legalization of medical cannabis is a great victory for the entire patient community,” said Iryna Rachynska from the campaign group Patients of Ukraine over email.

“Patients, the public, doctors, the military, and activists fought for this decision for more than five years. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Health, six million patients in Ukraine currently need medicines based on medical cannabis.

“These include patients with cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, as well as military and civilians with symptoms of PTSD.”

Rachynska added: “This number is constantly increasing because Russia continues to attack Ukraine every day; the number of victims increases, and every day without medicine, these people experience unbearable pain, both physical and psychological. The need for such drugs continues to grow every day.”

Growing Evidence For Cannabis In The Treatment Of PTSD

In jurisdictions where medical cannabis has been legal for some time, chronic pain, cancer-related symptoms and PTSD are among the most common reasons it is prescribed, with experts believing it has therapeutic potential in these hard-to-treat conditions.

Preliminary evidence suggests that THC found in cannabis may be “advantageous” as treatment for stress and trauma-related psychiatric conditions and could play a role in mitigating common symptoms such as intrusive thoughts, flashbacks and nightmares.

In a study from 2020, researchers state: “These preliminary data suggest that THC modulates threat-related processing in trauma-exposed individuals with PTSD, which may prove advantageous as a pharmacological approach to treating stress- and trauma-related psychopathology.”

Meanwhile, individuals with PTSD are understood to have lower levels of the neurotransmitter anandamide, an endocannabinoid that binds to CB1 receptors in the body and interacts with the cannabinoid CBD. Low anandamide levels can cause the brain to increase the number of CB1 receptors.

The use of medical cannabis is also not uncommon among the veteran population. A 2019 study on veterans in the U.S. found that the majority reported using cannabinoids as a substitute for either alcohol, tobacco, prescription medications, or illicit substances.

In a separate 2023 survey of over 500 U.S. military veterans, medicinal cannabis was found to improve quality of life and reduce unwanted use of other substances, including alcohol and other prescription medications.

Many veterans and civilians are also living with chronic pain as a result of their injuries.

Hanna Hlushchenko, an independent European medical cannabis advisor who has been working with the Ukrainian Medical Cannabis Association, said during a phone interview, “I’m always communicating the fact that military people need it, and we are not talking only about PTSD. In 80% of cases for which cannabis is prescribed it is for pain symptoms. People are losing limbs in the war… it’s about helping military people who are living in severe, chronic pain.”

First Medicines Expected By The End Of 2024

Now that the bill has been officially signed into law, over the next six months Ukraine’s ministries will outline the necessary legislation to allow for the importation of cannabis-based medicines into the country, as well as the domestic cultivation of medical cannabis.

While it will take several years to establish a domestic supply to meet demand, Hlushchenko predicts that the first imported products will be available for prescription in the second half of 2024.

“It might seem optimistic but the process is moving fast, faster than I expected,” she said.

“My estimate is that the first products will be on the market by Q3 or Q4 of this year.”

She continued: “The political will is there and is explained by the need, the amount of patients and by the war.

Patients hoping to access these treatments will need a prescription for a cannabis-based medicine from their doctor, and products will be dispensed by one of 200 licensed pharmacies throughout the country.

Hlushchenko is also working with the Ukrainian Medical Cannabis Association on growing education and awareness of the therapeutic use of cannabis among Ukrainian doctors.

“We are planning educational events for doctors,” she added. “Some of them are skeptical and some are very open, but whenever a new market opens doctors always have concerns and want to see the evidence that it works.”


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