BRUSSELS — With Russia intensifying its efforts to cripple Ukraine’s grain industry, Kyiv may soon be able to lean on another crop in its stead: cannabis. Medical cannabis can ease the psychological trauma of war suffered by more than half of the population, lawmakers there contend. 

Long-awaited legislation that would legalize medical cannabis passed a first reading in Ukraine’s parliament, known as the Verkhovna Rada, on July 13. To become law, it must pass a second reading, expected in the fall. The Russian invasion has hastened efforts to legalize the drug, cannabis advocates say.

The war is increasing demand for medical cannabis, the co-founder of Ukraine-based drug policy reform advocacy group Cannabis Freedom March, Taras Ratushnyi, tells the Sun. It has increased the number of patients in need of the drug, he adds, as thousands are now wounded and traumatized.

Before the war, Mr. Ratushnyi says, everyone had a relative or acquaintance who needed medical cannabis. “With the full-scale invasion, the pain has become much closer, as it now affects everyone who is simply in Ukraine and is a potential target for an attack on a daily basis,” he says. Mr. Ratushnyi is currently serving in the Ukrainian army.

More than 90 percent of the population has reported at least one symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder since the war started, the Ukrainian healthcare ministry reports. The report adds that 57 percent of Ukrainians are at risk of developing full-scale PTSD. 

“We understand that today there are more than two million people in Ukraine who desperately need medical cannabis,” the head of the health care committee in the Ukrainian parliament, Mykhailo Radutskiy, said. “We realize that there will be even more such people after the end of the war, in particular, such medicines are needed by the wounded, defenders with PTSD.” 

Lawmakers are currently rushing to amend the legislation before the second vote in the fall. As it stands, the bill allows for the cultivation of cannabis but bans, until 2028, the import of raw ingredients, such as extracts, flowers, and isolated cannabinoids, in order to protect local producers. Consequently, the production of cannabis would be paused until Ukraine could establish a supply chain of its own. 

In addition, it would leave cannabis on the country’s list of prohibited substances instead of shifting it among those used for medical purposes under strict government control. The rules for research, development, and use remain unclear. 

A main concern is that the second vote will not resolve issues related to the classification of cannabis, Mr. Ratushnyi says. If it remains as it is, he adds, pot will not be legally available for medical purposes. 

A people’s deputy in Ukraine’s parliament, Iryna Heraschenko, said the current draft “is not so much about medicine as it is about the industrial cultivation of cannabis.” She confirmed legislators will amend the legislation before the second reading “so that the emphasis is on medicine and pain relief and not on industrial cultivation.”

Ukrainians have been advocating for cannabis legalization since before the war. About 64 percent of the population supported doing so, while 29 percent opposed, according to a national survey conducted by President Zelensky in October 2020, the Kyiv Post reported. Parliament rejected a legalization bill in 2021.

Russia’s invasion changed things. In June 2022, Kyiv’s health minister, Viktor Liashko, announced that the government had endorsed the 2021 bill to legalize medical cannabis because of the war. “We understand the negative effects of war on mental health. We understand the number of people who will need medical treatment due to this exposure,” Mr. Liashko said.  

Yet, a vote on the bill was paused for more than a year. Mr. Zelensky’s endorsement ended the impasse, Mr. Ratushnyi says. In a speech to the Verkhovna Rada in June this year, the president urged lawmakers to legalize cannabis-based medicines for those in need and to allow for the development of scientific research into its use. 

“All the world’s best practices, all the most effective policies, all the solutions, no matter how difficult or unusual they may seem to us, must be applied in Ukraine so that Ukrainians, all our citizens, do not have to endure the pain, stress, and trauma of war,” Mr. Zelensky said.