Medical Marijuana Approved for Production and Sale in Greece

Medical Marijuana Approved

Last Friday, the Greek Parliament voted in favor of a bill to legalize the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana. 

The bill was initially submitted by The Development & Investment Ministry. Syriza requested the roll-call vote, which received 158 votes in favor against 33. 

The Communist Party of Greece, Greek Solution (Elliniki Lisi), and MeRA 25, Yanis Varoufakis’ party, rejected the bill.

The bill is labeled “Production, extraction, and distribution of final products of pharmaceutical cannabis of the Species Cannabis Sativa L, containing over 0.2% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)”. 

The Deputy Minister of Development and Investment, Nikos Papasthanasis, pointed out that this bill will help expedite getting licenses for medical marijuana production in Greece. The bill foresees the creation of two separate licenses to cultivate cannabis: the installation permit and the operating permit.

New Democracy spokesperson Christos Kellas, underlined that this is “an integrated framework for the development of the cannabis industry in our country, from which we expect that there will be benefits for our economy; through investments and the creation of new jobs.”

Opportunities of Treatments for Patients

According to Kellas, the bill will offer “new options in the fields of agriculture and processing, but most importantly, to those who use the final products of medical cannabis. Medical marijuana can relieve their diseases and help them respond better to treatments if this is deemed necessary by the treating physicians.”

The main opposition party’s spokesperson Alexis Haritsis announced that SYRIZA would attempt to amend Article 14 to propose that the application for a production license also apply to domestic sales and include cannabis extract. The goal is to prevent Greece only to produce dried flowers. This situation wouldn’t be beneficial to the country which will face significant competition regarding cannabis production. 

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