Last week, Ukraine allowed the use of certain drugs based on medical cannabis. For whom are they prescribed and whether these drugs can already be purchased in the Donetsk region - read on.

Cannabis is widely used in medical practice. Preparations based on it are used to relieve pain and relieve seizures. Cannabis also has an antitumor effect, relieves nausea and improves appetite in patients. Medicines with medical marijuana are indicated for patients with certain types of cancer, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, etc.

There are different ways to consume such medicines: tablets, ointments, oils, smoking and vaporization (breathing in vapors).

Cannabis has been fully legalized in Canada and Uruguay - there it can be freely grown, stored and used. In some other countries - the USA, Australia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, etc. - it is partially allowed. And in several other countries, including Russia, Peru, Turkey and Finland, marijuana can only be used for medical purposes.

Recently, Ukraine has also legalized two cannabis-based medicines:

Nabilon is a capsule drug used to treat nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy. It is a synthetic drug that mimics the effects of the main psychoactive compound in real cannabis;

Nabiximols is an oral spray to relieve pain and spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

These psychotropic substances can only be used for medical purposes.

According to the head of the Ukrainian Medical Cannabis Association, Gennady Shabas, the price of Nabilon is $2,056 for 50 capsules, and Nabiximols costs $740 for 3 bottles of 10 ml. In addition, currently, this week, we have not been able to find these drugs freely available in pharmacies in Ukraine as a whole. Especially in the Donetsk region.

As Dmytro Sherembey, chairman of the board of the 100% Life Charity Fund, told Hromadske Radio, the prices of currently approved drugs are too high. The reason is the synthetic origin of the components.

“There is a medicine with an affordable price of 200 hryvnias. And suddenly the Ministry of Health makes a decision: “No, why do we need inexpensive drugs in palliative wards and for children with epilepsy, we will sell them for 600 dollars, or better for 2000,” says Dmytro Sherembey.

According to him, this situation can be compared to the hypothetical need to produce and sell expensive artificial gasoline, while there is oil from which gasoline can be made much cheaper.

The resolution also states that the substance isolated cannabidiol, or cannabidiol isolate, is not subject to state control.

So far, there are no official documents that would allow the use of the above drugs in the Donetsk region. The regional health department is not yet taking the initiative to predict whether sick residents of the region will be allowed to be treated with cannabis.

But Bakhmut doctors are already waiting for the appearance of therapeutic marijuana for patients.

“I am only for it, because seeing a person suffer is unbearable for me. If they start selling medical marijuana, I will be the first to lobby for it to be available in the city. But not for distribution, but for those people who really need it. Every person deserves dignity, and I believe that feeling normal is dignity,” Svitlana Shabalina, the head physician of the Bakhmut Primary Medical Care Center, told Vilnoye Radio in a comment.

Recall that in October last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to ask Ukrainians how they feel about the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes. Among those who participated in the survey, 70% supported the initiative, and 24% were against. However, the survey cannot be called representative. After all, there was no control over how many times the same people voted. Find out how the survey was conducted in Bakhmut here.