DEBATE Cannabis legalization: for medical or recreational purposes? Bill to legalize medical cannabis debated for the first time in Parliament, 3 years after it was tabled / More and more countries legalize cannabis use

Cannabis use is prohibited in Romania, but for some years there has been discussion about the possibility of legalizing its use for medical purposes only. The draft law on the subject has been pulled from the shelf for the first time since it was initiated more than three years ago. Although backed by MPs from all parties, the bill was never debated until this week, when there was a first discussion in the health committee of the Chamber of Deputies. However, the bill does not contain any provisions on legalizing recreational use. Cannabis use is currently punishable by three months to two years in prison or a criminal fine.

The bill, known as the „Victoria Law”, was initiated by lawyer Alexandra Cârstea, whose mother – Victoria – died of cancer several years ago. Since then, Alexandra has fought for the law to be passed, but has been repeatedly delayed. She told Prima News on Wednesday that she discovered the properties of medical cannabis when her mother was suffering from stage 4 cancer and in great pain. „My mother could no longer use the classic medication, we tried doctors, abroad and followed a path of in-depth study,” the lawyer said, adding that she ended up buying this medicine from countries where their use is legal and obtained a prescription.

She pointed out that the bill to legalize cannabis for medical purposes started from a petition that gathered nearly 30,000 signatures. „I have doctors on my side, (…) I organized two scientific conferences on this topic, I had the knowledge at the time and all the people I turned to outside the country, doctors, were extremely receptive and very supportive”, said Alexandra Cârstea, she said that abroad there is a fast pace of legalization and we see as more and more European countries want to standardize their legislation. She gave the examples of Germany, which has one of the best laws, Greece recently, the Czech Republic, Poland and Italy. Details here.

The draft law on the medical use of cannabis in Romania was initiated as early as December 2019 by dozens of MPs from all parties, but has never been debated in Parliament. The bill passed the Senate by tacit adoption, and remained in the Chamber of Deputies’ drawer in committees. It was only in March 2021 that the Cîțu government sent its view, which is negative, argued in over 20 pages.

„The drug phenomenon constitutes a threat to security, democracy, good governance and the rule of law, weakening the foundations of sustainable development, legal systems, political stability and economic and democratic institutions through the negative repercussions it has on public health, safety and well-being of all mankind,” the document sent by the Executive reads.

The government invokes a 1973 decree and a 1992 law on Romania’s accession to international conventions that include cannabis in the category of drugs. The executive says the law would violate the 1973 decree and the 2005 law on the legal regime of narcotic and psychotropic plants, substances and preparations. The 2005 law contains a list of such plants, while cannabis is listed as a narcotic.

The authorities in Bucharest also cite the fact that in the United States federal law has criminalised cannabis use since 1970. Also, according to a study carried out after the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use in the state of Colorado, crime caused by cannabis use and trafficking has increased.

On Monday March 13, the law was debated for the first time in the Health Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, where representatives of the PSD, PNL and USR expressed their support for it.

„Over the years we have discussed with all parties, recently Mr Simion from AUR showed his support for this project. Apparently, we have this political consensus. What hurts me is that we are in this impossibility to finally vote on a law, although Parliament is sovereign (…) I understand on Monday that opinions and amendments are expected from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Interior”, said Alexandra Cârstea.

The draft law on the legal regime of cannabis plants, substances and preparations containing cannabis used for medical purposes was supported on Monday by MEPs on the Health Committee and health professional organisations, but was received with scepticism by representatives of state institutions, according to Agerpres.

USR MEP Emanuel Ungureanu, co-initiator of the project, stressed during the debate in committee that the initiator of the project, PSD MEP Ileana Cristina Dumitrache, gathered all voices, all parties to offer alternatives for patients in Romania, and the project has a very different perspective from that of the state institutions.

„State institutions are taught to say: „No, it’s dangerous, we ban, there are solutions, but not these, we sanction”. (…) We are not talking about recreational cannabis, let’s be very clear. (…) Thank you for putting your signature from all parties. Everybody agrees to let the law proceed. I want all state institutions to be subordinated to the sovereign will of Parliament, that is the Constitution,” Ungureanu said.

PSD MEP Ileana Cristina Dumitrache recalled that the project entered the parliamentary circuit in 2019, having been taken up by Alexandra Cârstea, founding president of the „Victoria Mea” Association, present at the debates in Parliament.

„It is the story of Alexandra and her mother, it is a story with a lot of suffering, a story with which not only I but also my colleagues empathised. (…) We are not inventing the wheel”, said the MEP, who recalled that several conferences and debates with international participation on the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes had taken place prior to these discussions.

The vice-president of the Health Committee, PSD MEP Florin Buicu, stressed that he supports the project, adding that state institutions must give parliamentarians answers to some of its provisions.

Răzvan Prisada, president of the National Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, pointed out that the use of cannabis for medical purposes is a hot topic at the European Medicines Agency, and that a „monograph” is currently being prepared by the agency. „And I think we need to look at things a bit more broadly and more integrated (…) There are currently two medicines that are authorized in the European Union that are based on cannabis,” he added.

Gabriel Diaconu, advisor to the Minister of Health, said that there are aspects of the project that the Ministry of Health is not opposed to and added that the terminology must be clear.

The Ministry of the Interior does not agree with the proposal in this format, and a reasoned point of view has been sent to parliamentarians on the matter, said a representative of the National Anti-Drug Agency, an institution under the ministry. At the same time, a representative of the DIICOT drew the attention of parliamentarians to the risk of associated criminality that could be generated by this law.

Currently, possession of cannabis, including for personal consumption, is punishable by imprisonment:

„Cultivation, production, manufacture, experimentation, extraction, preparation, transformation, purchase or possession of risk drugs for own consumption, without a right, is punishable by imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years or a fine”, states in Article 4 the Law on preventing and combating illicit drug trafficking and consumption. Cannabis is included in the category of risk drugs.

„Cultivation, production, manufacture, experimentation, extraction, preparation, transformation, purchase or possession of risk drugs for own consumption, without right, is punishable by imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years or a fine”, states Article 4 of the Law on preventing and combating illicit drug trafficking and consumption. Cannabis is included in the category of risk drugs.

On the other hand, the criminalization of cannabis use in Romania has led some patients with incurable diseases to emigrate for treatment.

G4Media.ro spoke to Giancarlo Cristea in August 2022, who was diagnosed with an incurable disease some 13 years ago, which has made his life an ordeal and for which, he says, no conventional treatment has worked. By chance he discovered that cannabis helped him, and in the early years he bought it illegally. He emigrated to the UK, where he and NGOs campaigned for several years for the legalization of medical cannabis. The campaign, which was „very aggressive”, was eventually successful, and he is now on doctor-prescribed cannabis treatment.

Countries where cannabis use is accepted

Most recently, on 14 March 2023, Germany announced that it will present a proposal to legalize cannabis. Germany’s government wants to press ahead with plans to decriminalize cannabis use despite legal concerns, after receiving a positive response from the European Commission, DPA reported on Tuesday, according to Agerpres.

„We are now using this to develop new proposals. In the next few weeks these will be presented,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said in Brussels on Tuesday.

Germany’s ruling coalition has agreed to make it possible to make the controlled distribution of the drug for adults for consumption in special shops possible, added Lauterbach, who presented a document explaining the initiative in October, without yet having a draft law on the matter.

Critics of the move to legalize cannabis use say the plans are likely to violate both EU and international laws.

According to the German health minister, the forthcoming proposal will comply with EU law and achieve the German executive’s goals – including reducing crime related to drug use and trafficking, increasing protection for young people and facilitating access to pure quality products.

New York’s first store legally selling cannabis opens on 30 December 2022 in the heart of Manhattan. More than a hundred people crammed into the trendy boutique-looking store of Housing Works, a nonprofit organization that is the first to open a store under a New York State license out of 36 permits issued as of November 21, 2022.

New York state wants to grant the first 150 licenses to retailers previously convicted of possessing or selling cannabis to redress what it sees as the unfair and disproportionate impact of decades of „marijuana” prohibition, which has particularly targeted African-American and Hispanic communities.

It has been legal in New York state for more than a year for adults over 21 to use cannabis, and in the New York metropolis the smell of weed pervades the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The city is counting on $1.3 billion in sales starting in 2023 and the creation of 19,000 to 24,000 jobs over the next three years.

In the Czech Republic hemp products such as marijuana, hashish and cannabis oil have been available in pharmacies for years. In 2023, Prague wants to legalise these products in agreement with Germany. Products for medical purposes cannot be purchased with a doctor’s prescription, which confirms there is a medical need for cannabis use. All other users must buy on the black market. Hemp cultivation is also illegal in the Czech Republic. Pharmacies get their supply from the Netherlands and black market cannabis is grown illegally. Read more here.

Malta became in December 2021 the first country in the European Union to allow the cultivation and possession of limited amounts of cannabis for personal use, following a bill passed in Parliament. The law allows people over 18 in Malta to possess up to seven grams of marijuana and grow up to four cannabis plants.

The bill was proposed by Equality Minister Owen Bonnici, who says Malta has thus adopted a „harm reduction approach” and to establish control over the sale of cannabis. However, cannabis use in public will remain a criminal offence and anyone caught using cannabis in front of a child will face a fine of between €300 and €500.

The Netherlands has a liberal attitude towards cannabis, allowing the sale of small quantities as part of a policy to manage crime and health risks, even though it is officially illegal.

And Luxembourg announced in October 2021 that it would allow small-scale cultivation of cannabis for personal use only as part of a package of measures adopted by the national government to combat drug-related crime.

In November 2021, Uber Group’s food delivery division partnered with cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke to allow cannabis deliveries in Canada’s Ontario province.

Three years after the Canadian Parliament approved the legalisation of recreational marijuana use, authorities are trying to rectify the situation in this market as illegal producers continue to control a large share of total annual sales.

Thanks to the partnership between Uber Eats and Tokyo Smoke, adults in Canada will be able to legally order safe cannabis, which will help combat the underground market that still accounts for more than 40% of national non-medical cannabis sales, Uber said at the time.

Customers will be able to order cannabis on the Uber Eats platform and pick it up at their nearest Tokyo Smoke store.

Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice in June 2022 authorised three patients to cultivate cannabis for medical purposes, a decision that could set precedents in similar cases. „The artisanal production of oil for therapeutic purposes does not pose a risk of harm to public health or any other legal right protected by anti-drug legislation,” the Superior Court of Justice argued in a statement to explain its decision, which aims to relieve health problems such as insomnia, anxiety or the after-effects of cancer.

In Latin America, several countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico authorise the use of medicinal cannabis in one form or another and its effectiveness for certain conditions is recognised by the WHO.

Hungary is also taking a position against the European Union on this issue.

The European Commission announced on 15 February that it would refer Hungary to the European Court of Justice because it voted against the EU position adopted on the World Health Organisation’s recommendation to list cannabis and cannabis-containing substances, the Hungarian press reported.

On 2 December 2020, at the 63rd session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Hungary twice refused to give its consent on the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

Before the UN body, Hungary made a statement diametrically opposed to the EU position, which, in line with the WHO recommendation, was enshrined, at the end of a two-year negotiation process, in a Council decision in 2021 and which is binding on all Member States.

Ferenc Dancs, currently State Secretary for the Management of Migration Challenges, also spoke on behalf of the Hungarian government in the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Ferenc Dancs said that „the rate of weed consumption has increased drastically in recent decades, which in itself shows that it is an addictive substance”.

In this case, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure shortly after the vote, in February 2021, as the Hungarian authorities have not provided satisfactory answers even afterwards. The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union is due to rule that „Hungary has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Council decision and has violated the exclusive external competence of the European Union and the principle of loyal cooperation”.

G4Media.ro readers are invited to express their opinion in the comments section for or against the legalisation of cannabis use for medical and/or recreational purposes.

Translated