The UN has recognized the medicinal properties of ca …

In the letter and report it sent to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in February 2019, the WHO also suggested changing dronabinol – an active component of cannabis – which is currently controlled under the 1971 convention on psychotropic substances, in Table I, so that it is legislated in the same category as the factory, but this recommendation did not get enough votes to be implemented. The 1971 convention includes drugs such as LSD or ecstasy, as well as various active components of the cannabis plant.

The Commission meeting was supposed to take place in March this year, but due to the coronavirus pandemic it was suspended and finally took place on Wednesday. “ The international drug control system generally does not provide this type of information, so in principle it’s a positive decision»Analyzed Alejandro Corba, lawyer and researcher for the civil association Intercambios, which is dedicated to the study and revision of drug policies, and warned that, while this is good news, of the legislation on cannabis ”. Although no longer listed in Schedule IV, the plant will remain listed in Schedule I, which includes dangerous drugs such as heroin or opium.

Although the legislation of each country depends on local regulations, Corba said that “it may have some kind of impact on the reinterpretation of certain behaviors in the country”. According to the specialist, although “the classification improved because it was at the highest level of restrictions”, the modification “could have been aimed at classifying cannabis among the least risky drugs, which is List II ”.

In the vote, 25 countries – Chile and Peru from Latin America, as well as Russia, China, Japan and Egypt, among others – voted against the reclassification of cannabis, while others like France, which on other occasions had spoken against the initiative, they changed their position and voted in favor. Finally, with 27 votes in favor and the abstention from Ukraine, the Commission approved the WHO recommended change.

“International regulatory agencies have a lot to do with local regulations,” said Albertina Moglioni, doctor of biochemistry and researcher at the Institute of Chemistry and Metabolism of Drugs (IQUIMEFA), University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Moglioni leads, with Catalina Van Baren, a group of studies on the composition of cannabis oil for therapeutic use, with the aim of improving its quality of national production. For Moglioni, the endorsement of international and health institutions “will have impact on the number of surveys to be launched next year. If you do more research, applications and production move faster. ”

In November of this year, the national executive branch approved by decree the new regulation of the law on the medicinal use of cannabis, which facilitates and promotes research into the therapeutic uses of the plant, and establishes that the health system must guarantee access to cannabis oil to patients for whom treatment is prescribed by healthcare professionals. “The fact that global cannabis has been subjected to historical persecution has an effect on the use and access to oil,” Moglioni said, noting that “this year there are a lot of circumstances converging towards the same side.”

“This Monday we were warned that we could begin formally with the analysis of oils and with surveys of the doctors who prescribe them”, the specialist told this newspaper and warned that “it is very difficult to work on the sidelines” . In this sense, Van Baren warned that “removing it from List IV means it is recognized as having medicinal utility, but being on the list I am always checked “, and remarked that “for the investigation it is a big step because we are not so offside.”

Report: Lorena Bermejo