The Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted, by consensus, a decision to postpone sine die the vote on the WHO Expert Committee’s final recommendations. While the vote was initially expected to take place in December, it is now likely that the Commission only takes action on the WHO recommendations in March 2020 during the 63rd Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

During the reconvened session of the 61st Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting, the WHO was supposed to present to Member States the outcome of their Critical reviews, and the recommendations for possible change in the scheduling status of Cannabis within the Schedules of the 1961 and 1971 Drug Control Conventions. That, unfortunately, did not happen.

READ OUR PRESS RELEASE FROM DECEMBER 7th 2018.

The International Cannabis Policy Conference started simultaneously and explored the policy and regulatory consequences of the WHO outcome recommendations, as well as the future of Cannabis policies globally and their link with Sustainable Development.

The forty-first meeting of the Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, 12-16 November 2018. 

SEE OUR CONTRIBUTIONS ABOVE IN THE SECTION “DOCUMENTATION”

Links:

• WHO website for ECDD41
• List of substances under review
• Information about the ECDD41 Open Session.

On July 23rd, the Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (known as Dr. Tedros), sent a Note Verbale to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres. The purpose was to inform him of the outcome of the 40th meeting of the Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) held June 2018, that was dedicated to the scientific assessment of Cannabis and its related products. Guterres forwarded the letter to all countries Member of the 1961 and 1971 Conventions on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

A big part of our remarks (delivered in our Joint Statement to the Experts) was acknowledged by the WHO, and most of the weaknesses and bias in the preparation process seem to have been overcome… To be confirmed at the 41st ECDD (12-16 November 2018) where the final part of this assessment will be done.

A very positive preliminary outcome was issued for “Cannabis and Cannabis resin”, as the Experts acknowledged that withdrawing the Cannabis plant from the “prohibition schedule”, (Schedule IV of the 1961 Convention) should be at the agenda of the 41st ECDD meeting, for a final decision going in that direction.

The Experts also recognized the incoherence in the terminology and taxonomy applied to the products included in the category “extracts and tinctures”.

Also, CBD was recommended for non-inclusion in the Treaties’s schedules, even though the journey is not over and the actual extracts of the Cannabis plant that are CBD-rich will be reviewed again as “extracts and tinctures of Cannabis”.

The next step will be the 41st ECDD from 12th to 16th November 2018, where the final part of the assessment (Critical review) will be undertaken by the Experts. They are likely to issue recommendations for lowering the scheduling status of Cannabis, Cannabis resin, Cannabis extracts and tinctures (including CBD-rich extracts), THC and THC isomers.

The final step is expected for March 2019, when the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs will adopt or reject the recommendations of the WHO ECDD.

Resume of the final outcome for CBD, and preliminary outcomes for Extracts, tinctures, resin and herbal Cannabis:

In June 2018 took place the 40th meeting of the WHO ECDD, special meeting dedicated to pre-reviews of Cannabis-related substances and the Critical review of pure CBD.

On the occasion of the 40th meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) dedicated to the scientific assessment of Cannabis and its related products, we delivered a Joint Statement to the Experts, underlining gross bias in the preparation process of the meeting.

We coordinated two main actions:

• Written contribution from Civil Society organizations, experts, academics as well as patients and affected populations.

150+ civil society organizations from all continents endorsed a written contribution, pointing out and examining in detail the bias that undermined the review process. Among the signee organizations are scientists, doctors, human rights, affected populations, patients, students, users or groups of healthcare and dependence professionals.

They come from Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Santa Lucia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, United States of America and Zimbabwe.

Click here to read the statement.

• In-person and video presentations from Civil Society representatives during the ECDD40 Open Session.

Beyond the regrettable bias pointed out in the Written Contribution (see above), the Experts were given a broad and complete overview of the challenges, threats or human rights violations provoked by the current regulatory framework surrounding Cannabis.

Among the stakeholders present at the Monday Open Session, all pointed out the barriers to access for therapeutical purposes or the disproportionate impact of criminal justice measures that derivates from the current Scheduling, particularly over minorities and women. However, series of technical issues made difficult a real concentration of the Experts on some statements, betraying the known heaviness of the “Organization” and its difficulties in preparing an event of such historical importance.

[See all of the video contributions on the ECDD website]

“On the year of its 70th birthday, the World Health Organization (WHO) is finally taking steps to repair an injustice that it co-created: the affirmation that Cannabis had no medical value, based on biased scientific processes, as a ground for the global prohibition of traditional and recreational uses of Cannabis, as well as severe restrictions to medical access and research.”

Last June in Geneva, for the first time ever, the WHO listened to the voices of doctors, patients, and researchers, and started to analyze and weigh the harms and benefits of Cannabis for health neutrally. Their conclusions are likely to change international law and impact home policies globally.

Learn more in our post: 40th ECDD meeting in Geneva: a pivotal moment for global Cannabis policies.

We also issued a press release in 3 languages about the Open Session:

In November 2017, as the Expert Committee was starting the review process with the Pre-review of Cannabidiol, we joined efforts with the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) to present a joint statement on this occasion, both orally and in an extended written version (Main authors: Boris Baňas, Dr. Bernard Beitzke, Dr. Giuseppe Cannazza, Michael Carus, Hana Gabrielová, Farid Ghehioueche, Kerstin Iffl and, Michael Krawitz, Daniel Kruse, Eberhard Pirich, M.D., Kenzi Riboulet Zemouli).

Our conclusion stated:

CBD is a safe to use substance that is beneficial to human health and public welfare and has numerous applications in industry and nutrition, cosmetics as well as health and wellbeing products, besides its promising benefits in diverse indications such as reducing anxiety or helping people to quit smoking.

Applying the measures laid down in the international drug control treaties to Cannabidiol would severely restrict its availability for the non-problematic consumers of CBD and CBD-related products, as well as undermining safe access for many patients who already profit from CBD’s manifold health-related and homeostasis-supporting effects. In addition to diminishing public welfare, employment in the blooming hemp industry would be actively destroyed, and the already existing and regulated market of non-therapeutical hemp-based products would shrink significantly, despite just having experienced a rebirth after almost a Century of oppression.

Finally, Cannabidiol does not fit any of the requirements or criteria for inclusion in the international drug control treaty schedules, and it lacks the properties usually attributed to psychotropic substances or narcotic drugs.

Therefore we strongly urge the WHO to clearly recommend the exclusion of Cannabidiol from the scope of the international control measures, and reaffirm its unbelonging to the lists of internationally controlled substances.

Links:

• Joint EIHA – FAAAT contribution to the 39th ECDD evaluation of Cannabidiol
• Press release EIHA-FAAAT on the outcome of the CBD Pre-review.

• Presence at the ECDD38

In November 2016, we registered again to attend the 38th ECDD, although the security service of the WHO arbitrarily detained us and difficulted our mission.

• Actions undertaken prior to ECDD38

After having gathered for years an important number of elements of evidence supporting the obligation to start the review for the WHO, we combined these to other previous declarations of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) supporting our request, and we wrote a letter to the by-then WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan – sent again by hundreds of scientists and political figures.

[Click here to read a summary of this action, last piece that helped to add in the WHO agenda the review of Cannabis and its derivates]

On three consecutive occasions before November 2016, the WHO eluded the review of cannabis by organizing pointless “update” meetings, with no procedural value in the scheduling process. In November 2016 however, the WHO finally decided to begin the review process for cannabis, under different items, starting with cannabidiol (CBD), and convening a special ECDD meeting to Pre-review all other by-products of the Cannabis plant.

Reassessing substances: one proposed reading of the UNGASS 2016 outcome document.

Contribution to the post-UNGASS 2016 thematic debatesorganized by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, on October 10th, 11th, 27th and 28th 2016. This contribution has been posted online on the website of the UNODC and can be downloaded on our own website (only in English).

Actions undertaken:

• lobby outreach
• work with a country delegation that formulated orally in plenary the ask for the launch of the review process of Cannabis by the World Health Organization.
• diffusion of a Memo for Country delegations at the 69th World Health Assembly, providing precisions and details about the review process, and evoking ways forward for countries to get involved in the assessment and review process just about to be launched by the World Health Organization
• diffusion of a Civil Society declaration on behalf of the International Medical Cannabis Patients Coalition (IMCPC):

[Click here to Read the full Declaration].[Click here to read a report on the 69th World Health Assembly (in French)]

The supreme organ of the United Nations, its General Assembly, held a Special Session focused on drugs (called UNGASS 2016, for United Nations General Assembly Special Session).

Among other positive elements included in the outcome document, the countries agreed on the need of renewing, balancing and basing on scientific evidence the approaches to the international scheduling system, and reaffirmed the role of the WHO. They also resolved to “[support] scientific evidence-based review and scheduling of the most prevalent, persistent and harmful substances” and called for “informed and coordinated scheduling decisions.”.

For more information, see our Official contribution to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs about UNGASS 2016 and its links with the Cannabis review process and our Contribution to the 69th World Health Assembly.

We started attending the ECDD meetings, on their 37th session. Cannabis was on the agenda as an “update”, which main document had been drafted by the controversed Pr. Bertha K. Madras. Our team member Michael Krawitz read a statement.

Links:

• WHO website for ECDD37
• Bertha Madras’ update on Cannabis for ECDD37
• Michael Krawitz’s statement at ECDD37 Open Session. Note: the statement uploaded online by the WHO has been censored and does not includes all the commentes regarding the inconsistency of nominating Bertha K. Madras for the update report.

Until 2014, a review process for THC had been started at the WHO, thought to help secure access to some basic cannabis medicines, but also as a first step to try out the reaction of the countries. That process was brutally stopped by the countries through the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), and the WHO abandoned the idea. At this moment, our team started to gather energy in view of a new start for the WHO assessment process, this time not only for THC, but for the whole plant.