As leaders in international drug policy met in Vienna, Elisma and other advocates are engaging in “sustained dialogue” with relevant UN bodies, including the CND, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and WHO, to advocate for “systemic coherence” between the international drug conventions and Member States’ human rights obligations.
The coalition has called on UN members to work together to establish “internationally agreed rules” allowing patients to travel freely with their medicine, as well as creating programs that foster “best practices” in research, access, and clinical application to help integrate cannabis into mainstream healthcare.
According to Carola Perez, a medical cannabis campaigner in Spain and co-founder of advocacy group We, The Patients, the overarching mission is to “guarantee equal treatment and access to products for every patient, irrespective of their location, age, race, or religion”.
Former basketball star Jarred Shaw is currently serving 26 months in an Indonesian jail for importing cannabis edibles from Thailand to treat symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
Shaw, who has always claimed he used the products medicinally, escaped the death penalty, but now finds himself behind bars without access to the healthcare and medication needed to manage his condition.
His case highlights a growing issue for medical cannabis patients traveling across borders. It is reminiscent of that of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years in Russia, after officials found vape cartridges containing less than 1 mg of THC oil in her suitcase.
Griner’s defence argued that a U.S. doctor prescribed the vapes to treat chronic pain caused by her injuries, and that it had been an “inadvertent mistake”. In the end, she spent 10 months in a Russian jail before being released in a prisoner exchange in December 2022.
These high-profile cases may be extreme, but advocates say they reflect a broader reality for millions of patients worldwide. In a fragmented legal landscape, cannabis recognized as medicine in one country can become contraband in another.
Despite expanding legalization and increased acceptance of the use of cannabinoid-based therapies for conditions such as epilepsy, chronic pain, PTSD, and cancer-related symptoms, access remains fragmented and unequal across different jurisdictions.
In many regions, cannabis policy remains tied to drug treaties drafted decades before modern research into cannabinoid-based medicine. While many countries have introduced domestic laws to enable access to medical cannabis, changes to international frameworks, such as the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, have been much slower.
Read more at
