The issue of cannabis legalisation around the world was once again thrust into the spotlight this month, following a vote by the United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs to reclassify it one that is less dangerous and has medical or therapeutic benefits.
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Experts said the result could prompt greater medical research and legalisation efforts around the world. But it also illustrated a separate issue: Asian nations are starkly divided on their views towards marijuana use, a not entirely surprising outcome given the efforts made to recognise its benefits in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. Thailand on Wednesday said it would no longer classify cannabis plants and extracts as a Category 5 narcotic – though cannabis buds containing high amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, will remain illegal.
Reports also pointed to potential diplomatic pressures at play, including India’s decision to vote alongside the US on the issue despite the Asian nation’s narcotics bureau having previously ramped up efforts to question and arrest celebrities – including television personality Bharti Singh and actress Deepika Padukone – for alleged possession of narcotics.
Indian politician Shashi Tharoor, who has advocated the decriminalisation of marijuana, took a dig at his critics in a social media post. “I was attacked for a policy recommendation to legalise it two years ago,” he wrote. “Now, even as the [Narcotics Control Bureau] arrests Bollywood stars for cannabis possession, India has joined a majority in the United Nations Drugs Commission to delist it as a dangerous drug. Ah well!”
Conversely, Russia, which opposed the vote, banded together with 28 other countries to condemn the outcome. The letter – signed by the likes of Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia – raised “deep concern” that the vote could be interpreted as indicating that cannabis was no longer regarded as harmful to health.
This was similar to the points raised by Singapore’s permanent representative to the UN, Umej Bhatia, who cited the “lack of adequate and robust evidence” to support the recommendations. Instead, he highlighted research detailing the adverse effects of cannabis use, including impairments to respiratory and cognitive function.
China’s delegate, Zhang Jun, likewise said that despite the vote, the country would strictly control cannabis to protect its citizens from “harm and abuse”.
‘MORE AND BETTER RESEARCH’
But Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium, a London and Bangkok-headquartered network of institutions that promotes open debates on drug policy, said the reclassification of cannabis was “primarily to acknowledge its value for medical use”. Usage of the drug for medical purposes has skyrocketed in recent years, and demand has risen for products containing cannabis derivatives, including cannabidiol.
Khalid Tinasti, director of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said before the vote, researchers and clinicians had “to go through enormous administrative and financial hurdles to get access to cannabis and research it, since it was deemed [to have] no therapeutic value”.
“I would confirm that the removal of cannabis from Schedule IV will allow for more and better research on cannabis and its ingredients,” added Tinasti, who is also a visiting fellow at the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva.
He said that while the over-commercialisation of cannabis had been an issue in markets where recreational use was legal, the December vote had focused solely on its medical purposes: “It is about the use of certain ingredients within the regulations of health systems, under the supervision of health authorities, and in a relationship between a doctor and a patient.”
This way, Tinasti said, even though there could be a handful of private companies lobbying hard to gain more access to a possible future market, this should not undermine the science that had proved the effectiveness of medical cannabis in treating conditions such as sclerosis or seizures related to epilepsy.
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This form of treatment is more widely adopted in Western countries. In Singapore, for example, the green light for cannabis-based medication has only been granted in one case – last year, a young girl who suffered from a drug-resistant form of epilepsy and had failed to respond to other therapies was eventually given a cannabinoid pharmaceutical, according to local media reports.
Tinasti said he hoped that with greater understanding of the medical uses of marijuana, Singapore, a “pragmatic and scientific country”, could “control diversion from the legal health system to the illegal market” and change its position on medical cannabis, in the way Thailand had done.
Lai from the International Drug Policy Consortium described Singapore as “more representative of an extreme position against scientific evidence”, and noted that three Asian countries – India, Nepal and Thailand – had voted in favour of reclassifying cannabis.
Even though Indonesia was among those who signed the Moscow-led opposing statement, she pointed out the “powerful discussions” there about the need for medical cannabis, citing the request submitted by three mothers to the Constitutional Court last month demanding a judicial review of its narcotics law so their children who suffered from pneumonia and epilepsy could receive access to the drug.
LEGALISATION…
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