Poland Legalizes Medical Cannabis!
- Polish cannabis supporters and especially patients who need cannabis are currently thanking former rapper and current politician Krzysztof Liroya-Marzec, nicknamed Liroy, for pushing legislation allowing the sale of medical cannabis in pharmacies
Just two years have passed since the former rapper Liroy entered political life in Poland and became a member of parliament. During that time, however, this significant figure in the Polish cannabis scene managed to push through a law that now allows Polish patients to legally obtain medical cannabis by prescription.
"After a long, exhausting battle, the first of November became the day Poland legalized cannabis for medical purposes."
Liroy was elected to parliament in 2015 as a member of the Kukiz' 15 party. He first proposed an amendment to the law regarding medical cannabis at the beginning of 2016.
The complete form of the proposal was quite drastically cut by parliament - for example, permission to grow cannabis for personal medical purposes was decisively rejected. Liroy immediately criticized the Ministry of Health's stance and made his opinion clear:
"Sick people are dying daily because of today's laws. I myself attend their funerals, talk to their families, and try to explain how we can change things for the better. You, lawmakers of our country, should go and try to tell the surviving family members what you say in the media."
After many negotiations and revisions, Liroy's proposal finally passed parliament and in the final vote won with a majority of 440 lawmakers voting in favor and only 2 against.
Medical Vs Recreational Use of Cannabis in Poland
The new law naturally does not completely legalize cannabis use. Medical cannabis is only permitted for patients who receive a prescription from their doctor and also an official permit from the regional pharmaceutical inspector.
Diseases, disabilities, and conditions that will allow patients to receive this permit include:
- Chronic pain
- Chemotherapy-induced nausea
- Multiple sclerosis
- Spasticity (Motor disorder, increased muscle tension)
- Resistant epilepsy
An interesting public survey from 2015 showed that 75% of Polish citizens believe that banning medical cannabis for patients suffering from the above disorders is immoral, cruel, and completely violates public citizens' rights.
Distribution of Medical Cannabis in Poland
Almost 90% of the 15,000 registered Polish pharmacies will be authorized to dispense medical cannabis by prescription, which should ultimately reach approximately 300,000 patients.
However, the question remains: will medical cannabis be available to patients at all?
The laws are green, but the production and import of medical cannabis is a problem of an entirely different caliber. Since Poland does not yet have a sufficiently sophisticated medical cannabis production system, it will need to be imported from countries like the Netherlands or Canada.
The estimated final price of medical cannabis will not be small: a gram of cannabis will cost patients around 350 crowns, which amounts to an excessive 11,000 crowns per month.
Author: Lisa Rough
Source: leafly.com