Ukraine has officially voted to legalise medical cannabis in what its Health Minister described as a ‘great victory for humanity and the beginning of a long journey’.
After sifting through nearly 1000 amendments, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s unicameral parliament) voted to regulate cannabis for medical, industrial and scientific purposes.
The new law is now set to be put ‘into effect’ six months after it is entered into force by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in January, which means Ukrainian citizens will be able to access medical cannabis ‘some time in the second half of 2024’.
Hanna Hlushchenko, Business Development Director at the EU-based medical cannabis licensed producer Cannexpor Pharma, who is now working with the Ukrainian Government to help draft the regulatory framework, told Business of Cannabis that the ‘market is now open’.
