Ukraine has launched an electronic system of accounting for the turnover of medical cannabis, the first pharmacy has applied for registration in it, said the Deputy Minister of Health for the development of digital transformation and digitalization.
“On Tuesday, this electronic system started working. We already have the first registration: a pharmacy from Cherkassy has already registered in the system. I hope more pharmacies will join,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Karchevich specified that the sale of medkanabis drugs is carried out exclusively on the basis of an electronic prescription, so technical solutions have been developed to be able to prescribe and omit them.
In addition, the deputy minister recalled that the regulatory framework provides for the sale of both ready-made mednacabis preparations and preparations made in pharmacies from ready-made plant substances.
“In order to make it possible to manufacture these drugs in pharmacies, the requirements for the import of plant substances of cannabis have been determined,” she added.
Karchevych also noted that the registration of such substance can be carried out under a shortened procedure.
The Verkhovna Rada has legalized medical cannabis and made it possible to use medical preparations containing cannabis (Cannabis) for the treatment of cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder. For the bill № 7457 on regulating the circulation of plants of the genus of hemp (Cannabis) for medical, industrial purposes, scientific and scientific-technical activities to create conditions for expanding access to patients to the necessary treatment of cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, received as a result of wars, voted as a whole 248 people’s deputies at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday.
The bill creates regulatory conditions for the legal limited circulation and use of cannabis, its resin, extracts and tinctures for medical, industrial purposes, scientific and scientific-technical activities.
The law comes into force six months after its promulgation.
The bill on legalization of medical cannabis provides for its removal from the list of narcotic substances and transfer it to the register of strictly controlled drugs, head of the parliamentary committee on public health Mykhailo Radutsky (Servant of the People faction).
“We are removing medical cannabis from the list of drugs, and this is not our invention. The UN did it many years ago. Cannabis is not a drug anywhere in the world, but only in countries like Russia, Belarus, Venezuela and, unfortunately, Ukraine. I hope that the parliament will correct this story,” Radutsky said at a briefing after the faction’s meeting on Monday evening in Kyiv.
The head of the committee said that only a doctor will prescribe an electronic prescription for a patient to purchase cannabis.
He reported that the Verkhovna Rada plans to consider at the first reading a bill on the legalization of medical cannabis on Tuesday and expressed hope that MPs will primarily think about patients and not about political dividends during the vote. According to the MP, after the adoption of the bill at the first reading, the MPs will have enough time to prepare the document for the second reading.
“I think that the law should be passed at the first reading, and there will be time until autumn to correct it before the second reading, we are not saints at the committee as well, we could miss something,” Radutsky said.
First Deputy Head of the Servant of the People faction Oleksandr Korniyenko hopes that their faction will be able to collect 200 votes for the bill No. 5596 On Amendments to Some Laws on Regulation of Cannabis Treatment for Medical, Scientific and Scientific Activities.
“It seems that colleagues from other factions support it. Our faction will support, not unanimously, it is obvious: there are those who are against it. But I think we will give 200 votes,” Korniyenko told reporters after a meeting of the conciliation council on Monday.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada intends to consider the bill on the treatment of cannabis for medical purposes on Tuesday at an extraordinary meeting initiated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Parliamentary Committee of the Nation’s Health, Medical Assistance and Medical Insurance has supported a bill on the use of cannabis for medical purposes.
The committee adopted the corresponding bill No. 5596, developed by the MPs of different factions, at a meeting on Wednesday.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, it provides for the need to comply with Ukraine’s international legal obligations regarding the circulation of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors.
The bill provides for the classification of hemp depending on the content of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in it: medical hemp (Cannabis) with a low content of THC in dry matter (0.2-1%) and Cannabis with a high content of THC (more than 1%), as well as industrial hemp, the content of THC in the dry mass of which does not exceed 0.2%
The bill proposes, in particular, to create regulatory conditions for the legal circulation of cannabis, in particular for use in medical practice, scientific and technical activities, to establish requirements and determine the features of controlled circulation of cannabis in certain areas of activity in accordance with the requirements of international law, to resolve issues related to organization of activities for the circulation of hemp at each stage of such a turnover, including, inter alia, operations for the import/export/transportation through the territory of Ukraine, storage and sale of hemp.
Also, the bill will define the requirements for business entities that can carry out operations related to the circulation of hemp, define and regulate the distribution of functions and powers of regulatory bodies that ensure the fight against illegal traffic in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors, to control the use of hemp for purposes specified by law.
According to the authors of the document, it should give an impetus to the development of medical science and the pharmaceutical industry by introducing the possibility of using hemp for medical and research purposes, to help improve the level and quality of medical services for the population in the field of palliative medicine, the methods of which, in particular, are based on the use of medical hemp.
The bill should also ensure that patients can purchase and store cannabis for medicinal purposes as medically indicated and prescribed by a doctor.
The bill provides for amendments to the foundations of the legislation of Ukraine on health care regarding the consolidation of the human right to access the necessary medicines, including, among other things, drugs containing narcotic drugs and/or psychotropic substances and precursors, the law On Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursors regarding the provision of the possibility of using plants of the genus hemp for industrial, scientific and medical purposes, the law On the List of Permitting Documents in the Sphere of Economic Activity regarding the inclusion in this list of permits for the use of facilities and premises intended for the implementation of activities for the circulation of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors.
At the same time, the committee rejected the alternative bill No. 5596-1.
On June 1, a group of MPs registered bill No. 5596 on amendments to certain laws regarding the regulation of the circulation of cannabis for medical purposes, scientific and scientific and technical activities in the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament said on its website. “After the adoption of the bill, Ukrainian patients will have access to treatment and relief of complex diseases, which is in line with modern world practice,” one of the authors of the legislative initiative Yevhenia Kravchuk (the Servant of the People parliamentary faction) wrote on Facebook.
She said that there will be enhanced control over the circulation of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes. In particular, according to her, the bill provides for an electronic register of all hemp-based drugs, they can be purchased exclusively with electronic prescriptions from doctors.
The MP said that any activity related to the circulation of medical cannabis will also be licensed.
According to Kravchuk, after the adoption of the bill, Ukrainian scientists and the pharmaceutical industry will be able to conduct clinical trials in line with international standards, and Ukraine will join the countries that successfully use hemp for medical purposes.
