By Franca Quarneti, via El Planteo.
A subcommittee on medicinal cannabis within Spain's Congress has approved a final report that will regulate the therapeutic use of the plant.
Spanish representatives seek to guarantee the availability of cannabis medicines and their dispensing in pharmacies.
The report was supported by several political parties and coalitions such as the ruling Socialist Party of Spain (PSOE), United We Can, Citizens, the Basque Nationalist Party and the Democratic Party of Catalan. Although some of the main political parties, such as Esquerra Republicana in the province of Catalunya and the Basque nationalist party Bildu did not vote for the project.
Meanwhile, conservative and extreme-right parties such as the Popular Party and Vox voted against the approval of the report.
A Great Advance For MMJ Patients in Spain
As reported by ABC, the Agencia Española del Medicamento (Spanish Medicines Agency) will be in charge of adjusting the current regulations to the recommendations of the congressional subcommittee.
The subcommittee estimates that cannabis for medicinal use will be available in pharmacies in Spain before the end of the year.
"The dispensing of magisterial formulas with standardized cannabis extracts or preparations must be carried out with the health system pharmacy network, preferably in hospital pharmacies and exploring the alternative of community pharmacies that may meet the requirements," per the report.
Who Will Be Able To Access Medical Cannabis?
Those who suffer from multiple sclerosis, some forms of epilepsy and nausea derived from chemotherapy, endometriosis, cancer pain and chronic non-cancer pain (including neuropathic pain) will be eligible for medical marijuana. These categories can be extended to other therapeutic uses following consistent scientific studies.
In addition, the political parties reached an agreement regarding the use of the cannabis flower for the development of medicinal experimental projects, a central demand of Spanish cannabis users.
Despite this huge step forward, the text emphasizes that "greater availability and consumption" of non-medical marijuana should be avoided.
"It is necessary to prevent the use of cannabis extracts or preparations from being confused with a generic invocation of the general use of cannabis by the population," the Spanish representatives clarified. In other words, no recreational cannabis.
Therefore, the subcommittee recommended that the situation should be evaluated annually.
Image Via El Planteo.
