Lawmakers In Slovenia Unveil Proposal To Legalize Marijuana For Medical And Scientific Use
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Less than a year after voters in Slovenia approved a pair of marijuana ballot measures, lawmakers in the country have introduced a bill that would regulate cannabis specifically for medical and scientific use.
The measure, from the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) and The Left (Levica) parties, would legalize cannabis extracts, plants and resin by removing the substances from Slovenia’s list of illegal drugs, according to local reports. THC, however, would remain prohibited unless used for medical or scientific reasons.
“Our goal is to protect patients and cannabis users from unverified products on the black market, enable uninterrupted medical cannabis supply to patients and address current legal shortcomings in the field of cannabis use for medical and scientific purposes,” the Freedom Movement said in a statement about the proposal, according to a report in N1.
Members of parliament “want to establish an efficient system that will take into account the existing competencies of the competent authorities, enable economic opportunities and clearly establish criteria for obtaining permits for growers, as well as researchers,” the party added.
Under the proposal, the Public Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices would be responsible for licensing and regulating the production and trade of medical marijuana. The Ministry of Health, meanwhile, would issue permits around marijuana used specifically for scientific purposes.
While the new proposal focuses only on medical marijuana, the Freedom Movement said it expects to take up regulation of cannabis for “limited personal use” by adults later this legislative session.
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The new medical legislation would require that marijuana meet the same production and distribution regulations as conventional medicines, according to reports, meaning that cannabis would be prescribed and dispensed much like any other prescription drug.
Left lawmaker Nataša Sukić reportedly said that patients with multiple sclerosis, severe forms of epilepsy and various forms of cancer would be among those who would qualify for the program.
Member of Parliament Sara Žibrat, of the Freedom Movement, said the change “will bring new economic opportunities, including for exports to other countries,” according to the publication Dnevnik.
Introduction of the new legislation came the same day as the Marijuana March, an activist rally organized by the Student Organization of the University of Ljubljana.
“The current prohibition is clearly not working—it only benefits the black market, while cannabis users and the state are worse off,” organizers said, according to N1. “Prohibition is proven to be the worst and most harmful form of ‘regulation.’”
Meanwhile, the group behind the International Cannabis Business Conference—which is set to kick off in Berlin later this month—is calling the Slovenian proposal “Europe’s most progressive medical cannabis law.” Among other details, they pointed to provisions that would open business licensing to any qualified applicants rather than establish a state monopoly and require products follow strict quality and production standards.
In June of last year, voters in Slovenia approved a pair of advisory ballot measures in favor of home cultivation for medical patients as well as non-commercial legalization for adults.
A question asking whether patients should be able to cultivate the plant for personal use earned 67 percent support from voters. Another, asking whether all adults should be able to legally grow and possess the substance, got 52 percent support.
Slovenia’s National Assembly voted to put the questions on the ballot in April. The outcomes were advisory and not binding on lawmakers. And notably, the country’s National Institute of Public Health took a position against the cannabis proposals.
Currently the use of some cannabinoid drugs is legal in Slovenia, but medical marijuana itself is not.
The bill’s introduction is among the latest examples of a push for marijuana reform making its way through Europe.
In Germany earlier this month, following a pivotal national election, parties cooperating to form a new coalition government announced they’ll conduct an “open-ended evaluation” of the country’s new marijuana legalization law.
Reform advocates had been watching closely to see how the centrist coalition would handle the legalization law, which officially took effect last April. Conservative lawmakers who won the most votes in the election have expressed their desire to roll back the law, but they were not able to get another party to agree to that plan as part of the new coalition.
Beginning in April of last year, the legalization of possession and home cultivation for adults took effect in Germany. Cannabis social clubs also began to open, providing members with legal access to marijuana products.
German officials last year also convened an international conference where leaders were invited to share their experiences with legalizing and regulating marijuana, with a focus on public health and mitigating the illicit market.
Representatives from Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Switzerland were invited by German Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues Burkhard Blienert to the meeting in Berlin.
The countries that participated in the ministerial have varying cannabis policies. Malta, for example, became the first European country to enact cannabis legalization in 2021. Luxembourg followed suit, with the reform officially taking effect in 2023.
Government officials from several countries, including the U.S., also met in Germany in 2023 to discuss international marijuana policy issues as the host nation worked to enact legalization.
A group of German lawmakers, as well as Blienert, separately visited the U.S. and toured California cannabis businesses in 2022 to inform their country’s approach to legalization.
The visit came after top officials from Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands held their first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss plans and challenges associated with recreational marijuana legalization in 2022.
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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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