UN RECOGNISES CANNABIS AS LESS DANGEROUS DRUG
By Our reporter
In Vienna—
A United Nations commission has voted to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug, acknowledging the plant’s medical value and paving the way for further therapeutic use of the drug internationally.
The 27-25 vote by the Vienna-based UN Commission for Narcotic Drugs was based on a recommendation by experts at the World Health Organisation that cannabis should be removed from an international list of dangerous drugs which are discouraged from being used for medicinal purposes.
“Cannabis, no longer considered risky narcotic,” the U.N News reported.
“In reviewing a series of World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations on marijuana and its derivatives, the UN commission has opened the door to recognising the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the commonly-used but still largely illegal recreational drug internationally.
However, the vote does not remove cannabis or related products from the list of drugs requiring strict international controls.
The United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom were among the countries that voted to approve the measure; countries including Russia, China, Brazil, Nigeria and Japan voted against it. Morocco was the only nation from the Middle East and North African region to support the reclassification.
In January 2020, Uganda’s health ministry issued guidelines for the cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes, bringing the country in line with other African nations including Zambia, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe that are easing restrictions on growing medical marijuana.
More than 50 countries around the world have already adopted medicinal cannabis programmes.
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