The Balkans take on medical cannabis

After the sudden announcements from Poland and Greece, to find out which other European countries are taking a keen interest in medical cannabis. The answer may surprise you: the Balkans.

The Balkans region is located in southern Europe and includes several countries: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Turkey, Romania, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.

In October 2015, Croatia became the first balkan country to legalize medical cannabis to treat serious illnesses. Regulation by the country's Ministry of Health allows doctors to prescribe cannabis to Croatian patients. Each patient can receive up to 0.75g of THC per month. However, the cultivation of cannabis is prohibited, which raises concerns as there are no reserves of medicinal cannabis in Croatia.

According to the Australian business magazine Business News, the Australian company dedicated to medical cannabis MGC Pharmateuticals said an agreement would be made between them and not only Croatia, but also Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to distribute products derived from therapeutic cannabis. The Perth-based company, founded in 2014, is a partner of Slovenian supplier Mikro +Poto. The latter will receive MGC's phytocannabinoid active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for all patients in these three Balkan countries. API is a cannabis-derived substance used in the finished product for cannabis-based medical treatments and clinical trials. They will be sold at around 60 euros a gram. Bosnia and Slovenia have not yet taken the plunge on this agreement.

Yet the Slovenian government authorized medicinal cannabis last March, as the number of patients using cannabis to treat their illnesses soared. Many Slovenian patients were already consuming potent cannabis extracts manufactured by the Canadian cannabis advocate Rick Simpson, who visited the country several times during his exile in Europe.

«As far as the prescription of medical cannabis is concerned, regulation will undoubtedly be satisfactory, with hemp gaining its place in medical care,» explains Dr. Milan Krek of Slovenia's National Institute of Public Health. Finally, Greece should continue its efforts towards controlled cannabis regulation in the coming years.

Mehdi Bautier