Proposal to legalize medicines containing cannabis to be introduced in Lithuanian parlt

Conservative MP Mykolas Majauskas, one of the people spearheading efforts to legalize medical cannabis, has collected signatures for draft amendments to the Law on Pharmacy and the Law on the Control of Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances to be included on the agenda.

“This is a really important step that will allow the use of medical cannabis for treating severely ill people. It is for the first time that a decision on such a sensitive issue enjoys broad public and political support,” he told BNS.

The draft amendments have been registered by lawmakers of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LFGU), including Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, Ramūnas Karbauskis, head of the LFGU group in the Seimas, and Agne Širinskienė, chairwoman of the parliament’s Committee on Health Affairs.

The proposed amendments would allow the medicinal use of such medicinal products if their safety and efficacy are proven by scientific research and if these products are registered. The amendments would take effect in 2019, but Majauskas proposes to set an earlier date.

The LFGU lawmakers note that the amendments would make it possible to use medicines containing not only cannabis, but also other narcotic or psychotropic components to treat severely ill patients.