Latvia's society not ready for medical marijuana legalization - Caksa

  • 2018-08-16
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - Latvia's society is not ready for medical marijuana legalization, Health Minister Anda Caksa (Greens/Farmers) told LETA.

To even talk about legalization of marijuana, "there have to be obvious signs of maturity of our society," and the minister is not prepared to support legalization of marijuana at this point in time.

Although there is evidence proving that marijuana is good for the treatment of some diseases, Caksa nevertheless believes that Latvia's society is not ready for legalization of marijuana.

In 2015, Saeima turned down a public initiative calling for decriminalization of marijuana.

Earlier this month, the Interior Ministry said that legalizing marijuana for medicinal use could be discussed in Latvia, however, the ministry is not planning any legislative initiatives in this regard.

A public discussion is necessary given the recent developments in other countries, which were also followed by the Interior Ministry's experts, the ministry told LETA.

The Interior Ministry may be prepared to consider legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes - in tinctures, oils, capsules, inhalers, but the ministry is highly critical of suggestions that smoking marijuana and growing marijuana for personal medicinal use might be legalized.