Photo via Medical News Today
After a much-delayed decision, a United Nations commission on Narcotic Drugs has voted to remove cannabis from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs.
The vote followed a recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 saying, “cannabis and cannabis resin should be scheduled at a level of control that will prevent harm caused by cannabis use and at the same time will not act as a barrier to access and to research and development of cannabis-related preparation for medical use”.
Prior to Wednesday’s vote (December 2nd), cannabis and cannabis resin had been listed alongside drugs such as heroin, methadone, morphine, opium and cocaine.
Cannabis on the other hand, carries no significant risk of death and it has shown potential in treating pain and conditions such as epilepsy.
The UN Commission for Narcotic Drugs includes 53 member states, and the vote on marijuana reclassification was very close, passing by a 27 to 25 margin.
The US and a vast majority of European nations voted in favour of the reclassification, while China, Pakistan and Russia were among the countries that were opposed.
The commission also considered five other recommendations, but none of the other five garnered enough support to pass.
While this is a huge step forward for medical research on cannabis and legalisation efforts around the world, individual governments still have the final say on how they want to classify the plant respectively.
“Something like this does not mean that legalization is just going to happen around the world,” said Jessica Steinberg, managing director at the cannabis consulting firm Global C, but, she added, “It could be a watershed moment.”
However, some countries do refer to global conventions, and a UN recognition is definitely a significant win.
Whether Malaysia voted ‘for’ or ‘against’ the reclassification is unknown.
by Kyle Roshen Jacob
