South Korea has become the first East Asian country that legalized medical marijuana after its "treatment effects" proved to be effective. The South Korean National Assembly approved the amendment to national Management of Narcotic Drugs Act (MNDA) on November 23.
The new version of the MNDA approved the use of non-hallucinogenic doses of medical marijuana. It also allows to legally provide licenses in producing, selling, and purchasing medicinal cannabis.
To legally use cannabis for medical treatments in South Korea, its citizens should get a medical prescription approved by the Korean Orphan Drug Center. The center handles the applications' process on a case-by-case basis, per Sputnik International.
Toronto-based Ela Capital CEO Vijay Sappani said that South Korea's decision to legalize medical use of marijuana is a "significant breakthrough for the global cannabis industry." "The importance of Korea being the first country in East Asia to allow medical cannabis at a federal level should not be understated," he said.
However, South Korean authorities warned its people that whoever "smoke, buy, possess, or deliver" marijuana in other countries would still get penalized. Although medical use of marijuana is now legalized, the said acts are still illegal. In the country's anti-drug law, anyone who gets caught doing these things has to face imprisonment of up to five years or pay a fine of up to 100,000 million Korean won or $88,000.
Meanwhile, before the law to legalize the medical use of marijuana passed, it surpassed its major obstacle in July when it got MFDS's support. At the time, it said it would allow the use of Epidiolex, Marinol, Cesamet and Sativex for cases like epilepsy, HIV/AIDS's symptoms, and cancer-related treatments, per MB Daily. But, it has yet to reveal if these medical conditions remain in a new law.
Rev. Sungseok Kang and the Organization of Legalizing Medical Cannabis also said that South Korea's move to legalize medical marijuana is a big step for the country, but its regulations still need to be fixed based on the revised bill. The organization even launched the Korea Cannabinoid Association to appeal MNDA while the directives are still in development.
"South Korea legalizing medical cannabis, even if it will be tightly controlled with limited product selection, represents a significant breakthrough for the global cannabis industry," Sappani added. "Now it's a matter of when other Asian countries follow South Korea, not if."
