Cannabis removed from United Nations list of most harmful substances
The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted on Wednesday to remove cannabis from the organization’s list of Schedule IV Drugs, reserved for the most harmful substances.
For nearly 60 years, cannabis and cannabis resin have been scheduled alongside heroin and other drugs deemed to have limited medical value.
The reclassification could lead to broader acceptance of medical cannabis and open the door for further scientific research.
The vote follows six recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2019, which called for cannabis to be rescheduled, among other directives.
The first recommendation and the most significant, item 5.1., stated, “Delete cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Convention.”
Voting on item 5.1 was close among the 53 member states, with 27 votes for, 25 against and one abstention.
“This action has the potential to stimulate global research into the therapeutic potential and public health effects of cannabis and to attract additional investigators to the field, including those who may have been deterred by the Schedule IV status,” U.S. representative Ethan Glick said following the vote, according to Prohibition Partners, a cannabis market intelligence firm.
Earlier this year, Cornelis de Joncheere, president of the International Narcotics Control Board, said it was time to update drug policies that were more than a half-century old.
“We have some fundamental issues around the conventions that state parties will need to start looking at,” de Joncheere said. “We have to recognize that the conventions were drawn up 50 and 60 years ago.”
The WHO’s other recommendations, including removing CBD from international control, were rejected.
“Decades of efforts have been necessary to remove cannabis from Schedule IV, with implications that will slowly, but surely, be seen over the next decades,” researcher and sustainable drug policy advocate Kenzi Riboulet-Zemouli told Marijuana Business Daily.
“While the move doesn’t totally free the plant from treaty control, it’s a giant step toward the normalization of cannabis in medicine above all, but also in our societies generally,” Riboulet-Zemouli said.
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