Legislators in Poland’s conservative-controlled lower house of parliament voted to push forward a bill to legalize medical marijuana on Thursday, marking the largest cannabis advancement in the country’s history.
According to Rappler, the Polish representatives passed the cannabis legislation in a landslide, with 440 votes to affirm and only two votes opposed.
If approved by the rest of Poland’s federal government and turned into law, the bill would allow doctors to prescribe cannabis-based medication, which would then be obtained through pharmacies who would import the medicine from other legal-weed countries.
A previous version of the medical marijuana bill included provisions that would have allowed in-country cannabis cultivation, but it was amended to allow only imported cannabis before the lower house vote.
If passed, Poland would join the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain as the sixth country in the European Union to legalize medical marijuana. A nationwide survey suggests that is exactly what Poland’s residents want, with a survey conducted in January indicating that over 75% of Poles support some form of legalized cannabis.
The medical marijuana bill will now be sent to Poland’s senate, where if passed again, will land on the desk of the country’s President to officially become law.
