Cannabis and Lithuania

According to the UNODC World Drug Report 2020, Lithuania was one of the main countries reporting dismantling of amphetamine laboratories in the period 2014-2018. This statistic indicates that amphetamine type substances (ATS) are in use among the people of Lithuania and that this is either locally manufactured or supplied from the Middle East which is the main source of ATS. 

 

Lithuania probably mirrors most European countries that have been forerunners in the war against cannabis. This all out war against the natural herb with its wonderful recreational and medicinal properties has surely caused the same damage in Lithuania that it has in the rest of Europe. In the absence of cannabis, it is very likely that Lithuania has become a sink for all the dangerous lethal drugs that make up a human's worst nightmare, drugs like  heroin and other opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, synthetic cannabinoids, novel psychotropic substances and abuse of prescription drugs.  

 

A report from 2018 said that the Lithuanian parliament had voted overwhelmingly in favor of medical cannabis. I have not come across many updates since then. I would surmise that even though the lawmakers favor medical cannabis, the issue of supply is probably a concern. Lithuania may be vying with other European countries for cannabis from the few legal or quasi-legal sources currently available, mainly Netherlands, Canada and possibly Denmark.

To make cannabis a sustainable reality for the people of Lithuania, it must be legalized for adult recreational purposes, especially its home growing, as has been done in Uruguay, Canada and an increasing number of US states. Only then will the plant reach the people who need it the most, the poorest of the poor who suffer the most under law enforcement, the sick, the elderly, the minorities, youth, women and indigenous communities. 

 

Legalizing cannabis will prove significantly beneficial for the youth, the elderly and those suffering from a number of serious medical conditions without access to affordable medicine. Legalization will also enable law enforcement to focus its time and resources on violent crimes, theft, financial crimes, money laundering, etc. It will help to release persons who have been wrongfully confined in prisons due to an improper and wrong law that saw the world wide prohibition of cannabis to benefit those who are opposed to it. It will provide the small farmer and poor indigenous communities with a precious additional agricultural crop that is sustainable and that has many industrial and medicinal applications besides boosting the tourism, economy, wellness, universal healthcare, food and beverage industries.

 

In December 2020,  the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move by the UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws. 

 

It must be noted that in most places where cannabis legalization has happened it took the efforts of the people who mobilized themselves through grassroots level movements to bring about this change. Left to lawmakers legalization would have been impossible, as the main interests of lawmakers concern the protection of the big industries opposed to cannabis such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, medical, alcohol and tobacco. For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change. 

 

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article. 

'Of the total number of amphetamine laboratories reported dismantled worldwide in the period 2014–2018 (749 laboratories), more than half were dismantled in Europe (417), most notably in Western and Central Europe (316) and, to a lesser degree, in Eastern Europe (100). Overall, 16 European countries reported the dismantling of clandestine amphetamine laboratories over the period 2014– 2018, in particular the Netherlands. The Netherlands, followed by Poland, Lithuania and Belgium, were the most frequently identified source countries of amphetamine in Europe. Amphetamine from South-Eastern Europe was reported as being mainly sourced from Bulgaria and Turkey. However, it is likely that such statistics are heavily skewed as a number of countries, in particular in the Middle East, where large-scale amphetamine manufacture has been reported, have a very limited capacity to dismantle laboratories and thus are not appropriately represented in these statistics' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf


Afghanistan and Mexico source the heroin and morphine. Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar and China source the methamphetamine. The Middle East and Eastern Europe sources the amphetamine. The US consumes heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Europe consumes heroin, morphine, methamphetamine and amphetamine. Asia consumes heroin, morphine and methamphetamine. Australia consumes methamphetamine. The Middle East consumes heroin and amphetamine. West Asia consumes heroin and methamphetamine. All countries grow and consume cannabis. Opioids, methamphetamine and amphetamines kill the most in terms of drug deaths, cannabis kills none. Who are the leading opponents to cannabis legalization and leading enforcers of global anti-cannabis policy? The countries involved the most in heroin, morphine, amphetamines and methamphetamine. They put on a mask of concern about harms from drugs, produce, sell and consume the most dangerous synthetic drugs and vehemently oppose cannabis legalization worldwide while clandestinely feeding their habits and protecting their sources. They use arms and armies to protect and promote their synthetic drug habits, and drug money to fund and wage a war on cannabis everywhere, pushing man and planet ever closer to death on massive scales and away from the safe, healing cannabis herb...
Jul 10, 2020, 1:14 PM
  

'Lithuania’s parliament on Thursday passed a law that will allow doctors to prescribe marijuana-based medicine in the Baltic EU state.The lawmakers voted 90-0 with three abstentions in favour of the legislation that will now go to President Dalia Grybauskaite to be signed into law'
http://aaj.tv/2018/10/lithuania-parliament-votes-to-legalise-medicinal-cannabis-use/


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