In November 2017, a bill to legalize medical cannabis was passed in Poland. However, from that time, they have been no significant updates. At the beginning of the year, marijuana was made available in dispensaries, and this surprised many patients and advocates around the nation.
Due to the availability of cannabis is Poland, marijuana is conquered yet another nation. Apart from Poland, other countries like the Czech Republic, Finland, and Thailand have established laws relating to the use of marijuana.
In 2017, Poland started making arrangements to legalize weed. On January 16th, 2019, cannabis could be found in store shelves around the nation.
According to an Anesthesiologist, Dr. Jerzy Jarosz, Poland had a law permitting the consumption of medical marijuana, but the drug was not available until recently. He also said that this gives new hope for patients.
Before cannabis was available in Poland, patients had to import marijuana from foreign nations. Currently, patients can get their medicine from multiple dispensaries around Poland. According to the Polish Pharmaceutical Chamber, an estimate of 300,000 patients may qualify for medical cannabis treatment.
The main reason for the slow start was due to the tedious regulatory process that companies had to go through before gaining approval by the Polish government to sell medical cannabis. Among the first companies to receive this approval is Spectrum Cannabis, which is a subsidiary of Canopy Growth.
To get better knowledge about the current situation, it’s good to know about the process of medical legalization in Poland.
The 2017 decision
The leading advocates of medical cannabis in Poland are politician Piotr Krzysztof Liroy-Marzec—and former rapper Liroy (Leeroy). He had been fighting for medical cannabis legalization since 2015. Liroy has a past offense for being a member of a movement for cannabis legalization, but he was later cleared of the charges. Liroy first launched a bill for the legalization of medical cannabis back in 2016, which was highly received by the parliament. According to Liroy’s original legislation, the cultivation of medical marijuana would be allowed in Poland. Furthermore, after cannabis is cultivated, it will be exported to other nations.
In Liroy’s battle for cannabis legalization, he faced a difficult task. According to Minister Krzysztof Łanda, the bill for cannabis legalization was not recommended. He also mentioned that patients already treatments such as Sativex, which is a cannabis-derived sublingual spray. However, Liroy fought back with a touching appeal, saying, “People lose their lives daily due to current laws restricting marijuana. I am attending their funerals, and you should start attending them, too, talk to their families and tell them face to face what you keep saying to media”.
In July 2017, a bill to legalize medical marijuana successfully passed through the lower house of parliament, and 440 lawmakers voted in for the bill while two voted against the law. In November 2017, the bill became effective. The bill also needs patients to get approved by both a regional pharmaceutical inspector and physician. Patients suffering from MS, epilepsy, chronic pain, and chemotherapy-induced nausea will able to receive treatment. This bill also showed that pharmacists would sell weed for about €11–14.
Recently, the bill became effective as medical marijuana could finally be found in pharmacy shelves around the country; patients are happy to finally access the medicine that they have long waited to arrive.
