Cannabis activists in Ukraine are asking legal weed businesses for donations to help their country survive Russia’s brutal invasion.
Freedom March, a Ukrainian cannabis reform organization that has been advocating for legal medical marijuana since 2005, just launched a new campaign to help the victims of the war. The group will be collecting donations via the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), a private graduate school that has recently kicked off its own campaign to fund humanitarian relief efforts.
The new campaign will “provide food supplies, transportation, refugees help for Ukrainian citizens affected by the war and purchase necessary medicines, first aid and protective kits for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian Paramedic Association, and the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces to shield them against Russian aggression,” KSE said in a statement.
“The Ukrainian government announced the official toll of civilian deaths –over 2,000 people, and that is only the beginning,” said Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of KSE, former minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. “I am afraid to think what the count will be in the next several days. We need support for humanitarian relief now: first aid kits, food supplies, transportation and protective gear. This all costs money.”
Freedom March is calling legal cannabis businesses all around the world to chip in and help Ukraine survive the war. Some of these donations will go to help orphans of soldiers or civilians who have been killed in the conflict. The organization will use this funding to help evacuate children from occupied areas and to provide medical, psychological, and financial support to orphans of the war.
The donations will also help provide financial support and medical care to soldiers and civilians who have been seriously injured by Russian attacks. The campaign will also help cancer patients and other people who were already hospitalized before the war began. Most oncology centers in the country are now closed, and many patients have been displaced from hospitals in cities that have been overrun by Russian armed forces.
“Today, with weapons in our hands, we have to defend our sovereignty and democracy, shining rays of hope at the uncertain future of the entire free world,” said Freedom March representative Nazarii Sovsun to Ganjapreneur. “This war was cast on Ukraine not just to steal our territories and resources and eradicate our population. This war is against freedom and identity, a threat that reaches beyond borders. We invite all cannabis professionals to stand by our side while we still resist.”
Although Freedom March has specifically called on the cannabis industry for donations, anyone is free to donate to the cause. Meanwhile, several US cannabis businesses have already launched their own fundraising efforts to help Ukraine survive.
