Medical Marijuana to be legalised in Thailand and Malaysia as drug becomes available on prescription in UK
pharmafile | November 1, 2018 | News story | Business Services, Medical Communications | Medical marijuana, UK, cannabis, malaysia, thailand
Thailand’s public health ministry is working to make medical marijuana legal by next month.
The shift is expected to come after the endorsement of Thai Public Health Minister, Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn which may come as early as November the 9th.
The news has come after the Vice President of one of Malaysia’s ruling parties, Nurul Izzah Anwar announced that a bill to legalise medicinal cannabis was “in the works”.
Meanwhile medicinal cannabis products will now be available on prescription in the United Kingdom for children with rare, severe forms of epilepsy, adults with vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy and adults with muscle stiffness caused by multiple sclerosis.
The UK government decision came after public outcry over two boys with severe epilepsy being denied access to cannabis oil. However the drug will only be able to be prescribed by specialist doctors in limited circumstances.
Dr Michael Bloomfield, from University College London, commented: “It’s going to be very hard for doctors to prescribe cannabis-related products to begin with, and I think it’s right that’s the case. When we don’t have very strong evidence for any medicine, then it should be hard to prescribe something because we should be prescribing medicines when there’s a very strong evidence base for them.”
The three countries are thus set to join a growing club which now includes Canada, Australia, Israel and more than half of all American States.
Louis Goss
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