Parliamentary Assembly Of Bosnia And Herzegovina Host Medical Cannabis Meeting

Medical cannabis reform has swept the European continent, with many countries already having medical cannabis programs up and running in some form. European medical cannabis programs fall on a spectrum ranging from limited access to CBD pharmaceutical products all the way up to robust high-THC options via various safe access points.

One region that has been slower to modernize its medical cannabis policies is the Balkan region. However, that is changing as lawmakers in the region are seemingly making a more concerted effort to catch up to some of their European counterparts.

Lawmakers in Bosnia And Herzegovina recently held a meeting dedicated to exploring medical cannabis policy modernization efforts, as well as the efficacy of cannabis as a medical treatment strategy. Per excerpts from Sarajevo Times:

The conference “Legalization of cannabis for medical purposes – how to speed up the process?” for the first time on this topic in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina brought together representatives of numerous institutions in the country.

Saša Magazinović, a member of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly and the strongest proponent of this initiative in that institution, said that all sick people who use cannabis oil expect to be able to use it in a legal way.

“They expect to be treated by doctors instead of dealers and to buy cannabis oil in pharmacies instead of in dark parks. If it is not clear to anyone, we are talking, and it is important to emphasize this, about a large number of people who suffer from great pain, who suffer from autoimmune diseases diseases, malignant diseases, neurological disorders… we are talking about people whose quality of life is significantly impaired. We are all here because of these people,” said Magazinović.

Cannabis opponents have spent a great deal of time and effort over the course of several decades convincing voters that cannabis reform is bad and that cannabis does not possess any meaningful medical value. That harmful rhetoric has prevented suffering patients from obtaining products that could very well help treat their condition(s).

Hopefully the meeting in Bosnia and Herzegovina that was hosted by the nation’s Parliamentary Assembly was productive and yields meaningful action sooner rather than later.