A United Nations commission has voted to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug, acknowledging the plant’s medical value and paving the way for further therapeutic use of the drug internationally.
The 27-25 vote by the Vienna-based UN Commission for Narcotic Drugs was based on 2019 recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO), which provides technical expertise on drugs to the UN. The decision removes cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs, where it was listed alongside drugs such as heroin as having little to no medical or therapeutic value.
However, the vote does not remove cannabis or related products from the list of drugs requiring strict international controls.
The United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom were among the countries that voted to approve the measure; countries including Russia, China, Brazil, and Japan voted against it. Morocco was the only nation from the Middle East and North African region to support the reclassification.
Cannabis was previously on Schedule IV of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs’ list, alongside drugs such as heroin, cocaine, methadone, morphine, and opium that are usually deadly. Substances classified as Schedule IV are a subset of Schedule I drugs, meaning they are not only seen to be “highly addictive and highly liable for abuse,” but are also considered to be “particularly harmful and of extremely limited medical or therapeutic value.”
In 2019, the WHO recommended in a report that “cannabis and cannabis resin should be scheduled at a level of control that will prevent harm caused by cannabis use and at the same time will not act as a barrier to access and to research and development of cannabis-related preparation for medical use.”
Note, however, that the UN drug agency has not yet legalized cannabis as the drug is still listed among drugs that are “highly addictive and liable to abuse.” In other words, Wednesday’s vote does not mean U.N. member nations have been given the go-ahead to legalize marijuana under the international drug control system. In fact, the UN drug agency voted to leave cannabis and cannabis resin on the list of Schedule I drugs which also include morphine, cocaine, fentanyl, opium and oxycodone. The WHO had also recommended that “extracts and tinctures of cannabis” be removed from Schedule I status, but the UN drug agency did not follow that recommendation.
Cannabis, in several parts of the world, is being used to alleviate suffering from various diseases. Nevertheless, it remains a controversial drug while critics fear that relaxing laws on its use can lead to drug abuse and other crime-related activities.
