The Korean government will allow medical cannabis to be imported for self-treatment purposes from next month.
According to the Ministry of Food Safety (MFDS) Tuesday, the revised medical marijuana law will go into effect March 12 to allow more treatment options for patients with rare diseases.
Under the new regulations, drugs with marijuana content, which are approved for medical treatment abroad, will be brought in through the Korea Orphan & Essential Drug Center. Patients with rare or incurable diseases can purchase four types of therapeutic cannabis through the center that are available in the United States and Europe, while no other treatment is available in Korea.
However, unlicensed medicines or food containing marijuana, hemp oil and marijuana extracts are still excluded from the import list.
To obtain the medicine, patients must submit various documents to the MFDS, including their medical records, and a prescription and doctor's letter stating that there is no alternative medicine available in the country. If the ministry approves it after review, the patients can get the medicine through the center.
This is a major change for Korea, where it is illegal to export, import, manufacture and trade cannabis products except for scientific research.
Authorities have recently decided to allow therapeutic cannabis with the global trend to use drugs such as cannabidiol (CBD), as well as ongoing patient consent requests in Korea.
Cannabidiol is made from a substance that is found in the gum, leaf and the upper section of the plant where the flower blooms.
"After 48 years of crackdown on hemp, the revised law has finally allowed the use of medical cannabis in Korea," said the Korea Medical Cannabis Legalization Organization last month. “But the strict regulation and restrictions of types of available drugs still prevent wider options for patients. To increase the effectiveness of the law, the government must allow more cannabis-based drugs. ”
Read the full article The Korea Times (source, photo)
