EU to Supply Medical Cannabis to Ukraine After Legalization
The European Union is reportedly preparing to send medical cannabis to Ukraine following its recent legalization. Ukraine began regulating the use of medical cannabis earlier this year. Partially, this is also an effort to aid trauma relief and recovery from the ongoing conflict with Russia. The medical cannabis bill, enacted in Ukraine on Aug. 16, will allow veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome as well as patients with serious illness access to the herb medicine.
The EU is ready to supply Ukraine with medicinal cannabis, according to Ukraine Deputy Health Minister Maryna Slobodnichenko. Ms Slobodnichenko made the announcement in an interview last month with the Ukrainian News Agency.
“The European Union is very happy about our progress in this area. They say – show the consumers, because they have warehouses of medical cannabis that they are ready to supply to us. But we are talking about medicine, and therefore the consumer is not every person, but patients who suffer from clearly defined diseases,” the spokesperson said, Ukrainian News reported.
Ukraine Launched Its Medical Cannabis Program in the Summer
Ukraine’s Parliament gave the green light for medical cannabis reform in December 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelensky formally enacting the bill on February 15th, 2024. Subsequently, Ukraine’s medical cannabis program was activated in mid-August.
With the new legislation, resin, extract and tinctures from cannabis are no longer listed as ‘dangerous substances’ in Ukraine. The Ministry of Health already published a list of medical conditions for which approved cannabis products can be prescribed to patients. The list of medical conditions includes (but is not limited to): chronic and neuropathic pain, muscle spasticity (due to Multiple sclerosis), neuralgia, cancer/chemotherapy symptoms, Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, epilepsy and seizures in children, weight loss associated with anorexia, and more.
As the conflict between Ukraine and Russia continues, medicinal cannabis will also be available for those suffering PTSD. The war has impacted millions of Ukrainians, and those on the frontlines or working with emergency services are particularly vulnerable and more likely to experience PTSD. As a therapeutic agent, cannabis can lower anxiety, improve sleep and reduce dream-disturbed sleep and nightmares linked to PTSD. Other beneficial effects from the herb medicine include its ability to improve mood and tackle depression that often accompany experiences of trauma. Research further suggests that cannabis also affects our ability to process memories, in a way that it relieves suffering related to flashbacks and traumatic memory recall.
During the past year, Ukrainian authorities have developed a system of how medicinal cannabis will function in the country. Rules have been drafted for the entire chain of distribution of cannabis medicines, from import to cultivation to dispensing to a patient in a pharmacy. Legislators have also introduced licensing conditions for those who plan to set up cultivation businesses.
“Medicines from medical cannabis will be made in a pharmacy setting and prescribed by prescription to patients for whom conventional medicines do not have a therapeutic effect or cause adverse reactions that are poorly tolerated,” the Ministry of Health said in a news release in August 2024.
Medicinal cannabis will be available to Ukrainian patients in the form of oral drops, hard capsules, and dental pastes. The law will allow people entering, leaving or just transiting through Ukraine to carry medicinal cannabis for personal use in amounts as prescribed by a doctor.
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Stephen Andrews
