Green revolution in Polish drug enforcement law
Drug Enforcement Act from 24th of March 2022 was recently approved by Polish president, Andrzej Duda, after substantial changes from Polish Senate. New law allows for research institutions subjected to Polish Ministry of Agriculture to grow cannabis for medicinal purposes following the permission form the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate.
Legal requirements for cannabis cultivation will include: video surveillance, system of signaling for unauthorized access and radio-frequency identification of cannabis plants. Moreover, staff will be required to possess certificate of no criminal record. New law also redefines raw materials produced from cannabis.
Up to date, Polish law allowed only for cultivation of industrial hemp, whereas medicinal cannabis was legally available to patients since 2017. Because of the previous regulations, pharmacies had to import medicinal cannabis from Netherlands, which substantially limited its availability to patients in need. New law will finally allow to produce medicinal cannabis in-country, which will have positive impact on its access.
