The Sejm has passed a law that is intended to allow patients to access cannabis preparations. These preparations will be available in pharmacies on a doctor’s prescription, and the raw substance shall be imported from abroad. 440 deputies voted yes, two were against, and one person abstained.
The draft amendment to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction was prepared by Club Kukiz’15, a right-wing opposition movement (it is not registered as a party but as an association) led by the punk-rocker Pawel Kukiz. The first draft would have allowed the patients – or their legal guardians, for example in the case of children with epilepsy – to grow hemp for their own therapeutic use.
However, the draft was modified and the final law allows only pharmacies to produce and sell cannabis to patients who have a medical prescription. The raw substance will be imported from abroad. Civic Platform, another party, has already announced that they will propose amendments to the bill when it will be discussed and passed by the Senate. They argue that Poland has to produce its own cannabis instead of importing from abroad.
This is supported by Peter Liroy-Marzec, a popular rapper and a currently-independent MP in the Sejm, who was one of the main architects of the new legislation. By creating a legal cannabis industry Poland would get closer to energy independence and generate new budget revenues.
Peter Sarosi
Source: RMF24
