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The simple majority of the 53 Commission states have decided to withdraw cannabis and its resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Drugs Convention, which means that the medical usefulness of this plant is officially recognized, the recreational use of which will continue to be prohibited in international regulations.
The UN recognized this Wednesday 2-D the medicinal properties of cannabis in a vote in Vienna by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the UN’s executive body on drug policy.
The simple majority of the 53 Commission states have decided to withdraw cannabis and its resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Drugs Convention, which means that the medical usefulness of this plant is officially recognized, the recreational use of which will continue to be prohibited in international regulations.
Nearly all states in the European Union – with the exception of Hungary – and many Americas added a simple majority of 27 votes to approve the change – one of the most important drugs in recent decades – while most of the Asian countries and Africans opposed it.
In this Convention, cannabis is classified in lists I and IV, the latter reserved for the most dangerous drugs and under the strictest control, such as heroin, and which are granted little medical value.
This change will facilitate research with cannabis, which has active ingredients that have shown promise in the treatment of Parkinson’s, sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain and cancer.
A controversial recommendation
The vote came nearly two years after a World Health Organization (WHO) ruling recognized the medical usefulness of cannabis and recommended it be removed from List IV.
At the same time, he proposed keeping cannabis on List I, where narcotics are under international control due to their addictive nature but accessible for medical activities, a situation where other narcotics, such as morphine, are found.
That recommendation – adopted now – was based on the WHO’s first critical study of cannabis, the most popular drug in the world with some 200 million users, according to United Nations estimates.
WHO is responsible for the scientific evaluation for the Commission of both the possible therapeutic properties and the harms generated by drug addiction under international control and its recommendations are generally adopted without much controversy.
International division
However, in this case, the vote was preceded by a huge debate and several postponements in the last two years due to the differences between the states in favor of change and those who demanded the maintenance of the “status quo”.
EU countries, except Hungary, along with others such as Argentina, Canada, Colombia, USA, Mexico, Uruguay and Ecuador, among others, have supported the WHO scientific criteria.
Some 50 countries have launched several medical cannabis programs and this UN decision will, predictably, promote such policies as well as research with the plant.
Argentina has already decided in November to legalize the self-cultivation of marijuana for medicinal use and will allow the sale of oils, creams and other derivatives of the plant for therapeutic purposes, based on the WHO recommendation which has now been officially adopted .
Until now, medical research with cannabis was possible in a limited way, as inclusion in List IV acted as a brake on many laboratories due to the restrictions and different legal criteria applied in each country.
States that voted against the change, led by Russia, China, Brazil and Pakistan, believe that relaxed cannabis control now sends the wrong message at a time when some countries, such as Canada or Uruguay, have legalized marijuana in violation of international agreements.
Those states opposed to any change, including Cuba and Venezuela, believe that this decision trivializes the use of cannabis and minimizes the health damage it produces, such as an increase in some mental disorders.
The change comes when several countries like Canada, Uruguay and a dozen states in the United States have legalized the use of marijuana and others like Mexico, Luxembourg or Israel have ongoing legal steps along the same lines.
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