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VIENNA: Member states of the United Nations drug agency voted on Wednesday (December 2) by a narrow margin to remove cannabis from the most strictly controlled category of narcotics, following the recommendation of the World Health Organization ( WHO) to facilitate research on its medical use.
The annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the governing body of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, voted 27 to 25 with one abstention to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from Annex IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs , a global text governing drug controls, a UN Declaration, he said.
The vote followed a 2019 WHO recommendation that “cannabis and cannabis resin should be programmed at a level of control that prevents harm caused by cannabis use while not acting as a barrier to access to and research and development of cannabis “. related preparation for medical use “.
Other drugs on Schedule IV include heroin, fentanyl analogs, and other opioids that are dangerous and often deadly. Cannabis, by contrast, does not carry a significant risk of death and has shown the potential to treat pain and conditions such as epilepsy, the WHO found.
The UN statement on the Vienna meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs did not say which countries supported or opposed the change, or why the vote was so close.
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The convention establishes that a party will take “any special control measure that in its opinion is necessary taking into account the particularly dangerous properties” of a drug included in Schedule IV.
Annex I, the next stricter level of control, which includes cocaine, does not carry that stipulation. The WHO recommended that cannabis continue to be listed there, noting “the high rates of public health problems arising from cannabis use.”
However, the commission did not endorse other WHO recommendations, such as removing “cannabis extracts and tinctures” from Schedule I, according to the statement.
