Greek Officials Expected to Announce Medical Cannabis Proposal

It seems like Greece is poised to become the next country to accept medical cannabis legalization in Europe, among other countries such as Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, where medical cannabis has already been legalized to some degree.

According to Ekathimerini.com, the Greek Health Ministry recently “suggested [that] measures are on the way allowing doctors to prescribe drugs that contain cannabis purely for medical reasons.” Attention is currently on Health Minister Andreas Xanthos, who is expected to work with the government to draft legislation that will allow medical cannabis to also be produced and packaged in Greece as well. Xanthos recently stated that the Ministry of Health is nearing completion on a draft that would allow patients who suffer from chronic pain, glaucoma or Multiple Sclerosis to qualify for medical cannabis.

The Greek government has been preparing for the inevitability of medical cannabis over the past year. Last summer, previous Health Minister Panagiotis Koruroumblis received a letter from 36 members of the Greek Parliament that detailed the medical benefits and uses of cannabis. “The financial benefits of cultivation of our own cannabis in Greece for medicinal/pharmaceutical purposes and for use in research would be multi-faceted (rejuvenating our agricultural economy and processing, resumption of export of hemp products after many years of stagnation, strengthening insurance funds to escape the burden of expensive prescription pharmaceutical products.)”

Soon thereafter, a “working group,” which according to the Greek Reporter consisted of “academics, psychiatrists, and scientific and legal advisers of the prime minster, health ministry and the justice ministry and members of patient associations” was established to discuss the possibility of medical cannabis regulations. By October 2016, that group submitted its recommendations to the Health Minster.

Although there is no official announcement yet from Greek legislators, it is not entirely unexpected to view the culmination of this progress. Greece is one of many countries considering how to implement medical cannabis regulations, and hopefully soon the European cannabis community can count Greece as the next medical cannabis-approved country.