Kiev, December 30, 2020
Photo: spzh.news
Inspired by the positive stance of Epiphany Dumenko, the head of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” towards the legalization of medical marijuana, deputies of the Golos (Voice) Party decided to submit a corresponding bill to the Verkhovna Rada—the Ukrainian Parliament.
“After even Metropolitan Epiphany said that the legalization of cannabis in Ukraine for medical purposes is possible, we in the Golos Party simply could not stand aloof from this problem any longer,” said Golos Deputy Kira Rudik.
In an interview with Radio Liberty last week, Dumenko said that he had discussed the issue with President Zelensky and Prime Minister Shmyhal, and that they agreed that the legalization of marijuana could be permissible if used for good purposes.
In general, the OCU “supports things that are useful for human health,” he also said in January of this year.
“Often, medical cannabis is the only way to ease people’s pain and suffering. Cannabis does not have severe side effects like morphine or codeine, which have long been legalized in Ukraine... It is impossible to continue to indulge the abstract fears of society about the harm of ‘weed’ when it comes to human life and health,” Deputy Rudik explained after the bill was submitted.
Regulated medical marijuana will help more than a million Ukrainian cancer patients, 20,000 children with epilepsy, patients with diabetes, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and many others, the Deputy said. Access to medicinal cannabis in military rehab centers would also reduce the number of suicides, Rudik believes.
Recall that the issue of medical marijuana was also addressed by the Georgian Orthodox Church, though with a much stricter stance.
The Georgian Church sharply protested the government’s plans to legalize marijuana and a bill on cultivating marijuana for medical and cosmetic purposes. “Permission to produce cannabis really means the legalization of drug trafficking, which will bring severe consequences to the country,” the Synod stated.
However, the Constitutional Court did not listen to the Church, and in July 2018, Georgia became the first post-Soviet state to legalize marijuana use, though the Georgian Parliament did agree to withdraw the bill on cultivating marijuana.
His Holiness Patriarch Ilia addressed the issue in several homilies at that time.
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