UN drug agency loosens global cannabis control

VIENNA (Reuters) – UN Narcotics Agency member states on Wednesday voted to remove cannabis from the most heavily controlled category of narcotic drugs, following the recommendation of the World Health Organization to simplify research into its medical use.

The Annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the governing body of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, voted 27 to 25 with one abstention to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the global drug control instrument, says the UN statement.

The vote follows a 2019 WHO recommendation that “cannabis and cannabis resin should be listed at a control level that will prevent harm from cannabis use while not acting as a barrier to access to medical research.”