Cannabis and South Korea

South Korea has started taking steps to make cannabis legal for medical purposes. It is one of the early movers in East Asia to look at medical cannabis to treat ailments. The country is looking at a health ministry driven approach to get patients registered and prescribed cannabis for certain conditions. Its neighbor North Korea is said to have always had a policy of cannabis for recreational use being legal. South Korea on the other hand has followed the federal US and UN scheduling on cannabis and has in the recent past imposed a ban on cannabis possibly in exchange for missile shields, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and US military bases.

With changes taking place in the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Israel, Mexico and neighboring Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia, South Korea has also started re-looking its approach to cannabis. The medical use of cannabis may present hope for South Korea's citizens but things are still not ideal. According to the Korea Herald, 'to receive the cannabis derivatives through the Korea Orphan and Essential Drugs Center, patients are required to submit applications and receive approval as patients of rare and incurable diseases. Each application must specify a diagnosis along with the name of the drug, the dosage, the period of its administration and how to use it. Applicants must also supply medical records and a doctor’s note stating that there is no alternative treatment.'

This appears to be a long drawn out process especially for patients who have failed to respond to other forms of treatment. They may be lucky to survive long enough to get their hands on the cannabis based medication after going through all the processes that have been laid out. This medication is to be sourced from the US and Europe where they have been approved. The only approved cannabis based medicine in the US is Epidiolex for epilepsy by GW Pharmaceuticals. The framework set in place appears to be just an eyewash to placate the South Korean people while keeping cannabis more or less still prohibited in line with the wishes of cannabis opposition.

It is outright foolish for South Korea to depend on the US and Europe for its medical cannabis. The recent frenzy over who corners the Covid vaccines should be sufficient evidence of the west's selfishness. These countries are the ones most in need of natural cannabis given that they are the main proponents of cannabis prohibition and the ones that have used law and drug enforcement the most to thoroughly eliminate their own sources of natural cannabis and jail farmers. Being an Asian country, South Korea is likely to have its own indigenous varieties of cannabis provided the government in its over-enthusiasm to please the US has not completely exterminated the 28 million year old plant. The long term sustainable approach will be to promote cannabis farming among South Korean farmers, especially the farming of indigenous Asian varieties. Sufficient protection for small farmers, (if there is such a thing in South Korea) needs to be put in place so that global companies do not come and patent the South Korean local varieties and export them to the US, Canada and Europe, the very countries that South Korea currently hopes to source its medical cannabis from. Also the legalization of cannabis for adult recreational use, home growing and possession are the measures required to ensure that the plant as medicine and recreation reaches the entire South Korean population, especially the ones who need it the most, the poorest, the indigenous people, the very sick, the elderly, the ones highly addicted to dangerous synthetic drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, synthetic cannabinoids, harmful prescription drugs and novel psychotropic substances, the youth and the women. Such measures may take time to implement if South Korean society has taken too many steps in the direction of unsustainable economic development and destruction of its natural heritage, especially the destruction of the cannabis plant.

Some simple measures to start with would be to stop threatening its own citizens with punishment for consuming cannabis as tourists visiting countries where cannabis is legal. Another measure would be to import cannabis from North Korea and use these varieties to revive South Korean cannabis cultivation. There can be no better way to build the bridges of peace with its Northern neighbor than through the plant of peace that is universal medicine. But then this requires political and social will, to recognize one's brother and live in love and peace with him in the face of hostile opposition that thrives on the differences they can foment.

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, 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.   

'South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund bought up three Canadian cannabis stocks as they dipped to 52-week lows in the first quarter of 2020.

 Though the value of the cannabis holdings is a modest $8 million, it is the latest sign the stigma associated with the legal industry is slowly eroding in international finance circles'
https://mjbizdaily.com/korean-sovereign-wealth-fund-dips-into-canadian-cannabis-sector/

'South Korea went even further, warning its citizens not to smoke up while on holiday: "Even if you are in a cannabis legalization area, you will be penalized for committing a criminal offence."'
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/cannabis-tourists-could-be-charged-despite-legalization-1.4150335


'Recent news of Thailand and South Korea becoming the latest countries to adopt the use of cannabis for medical purposes reinforces the remarkable, expansive rate for global acceptance of cannabis.'
https://newfrontierdata.com/marijuana-insights/50-new-cannabis-markets-globally/


Weekly CannaBit from New Frontier Data

'Demand for CBD products in both Japan and South Korea – countries with high relative spending for wellness and cosmetics – could further catalyze demand for China’s hemp-derived CBD'

 
My understanding is that marijuana's been legal in South Korea's neighbouring country North Korea for some time now?

'South Korea became the first country in East Asia to legalize medical cannabis, marking a significant milestone in the global industry and a potential turning point in how the drug is perceived in traditionally conservative societies.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/breaking-south-korea-becomes-first-country-in-east-asia-to-legalize-medical-cannabis/


My Korean friends, it's better for you to legalise recreational use and grow your own cannabis, preferably at the individual household level for self sustainability. There is a massive shortage of legal cannabis in most countries. Big businesses and pharma companies are also adding to the shortage by cornering large cultivators. If you nurture and grow your own native strains you can trade this with the rest of the world, enjoy global strains and share your own. Potluck for the world. That would be a more sustainable and less painful path for your nation and the people of the world.

'When the amendment comes into effect, medicinal marijuana can be imported from countries such as the United States or those in Europe. However, the import and use of cannabis that has not been approved for medical use in foreign countries will be strictly banned. '
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20181129000668


'People with diseases for which there are no alternative means of treatment in Korea can import four types of drugs containing cannabis-derived substances that have been approved for sale in the US and Europe.

But bringing in hemp oils, cannabis extracts, or foods that have not been approved as medicine or medical supplies overseas will not be allowed.

To receive the cannabis derivatives through the Korea Orphan and Essential Drugs Center, patients are required to submit applications and receive approval as patients of rare and incurable diseases. Each application must specify a diagnosis along with the name of the drug, the dosage, the period of its administration and how to use it. Applicants must also supply medical records and a doctor’s note stating that there is no alternative treatment.'
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190219000553


'Choi Hyeok-yong, the President of the Association of Korean Medicine and a speaker at the meeting, said, “Laws in South Korea must be revised to allow the use of cannabis as medicine in order to promote the betterment of public health.”

The organization is asking that the distribution of cannabis, a type of marijuana used for medicinal purposes, be freely distributed by the public sector.'
http://koreabizwire.com/lobby-group-pushes-for-marijuana-legalization/122659


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