Croatia allowed the sale of marijuana-derived products for medical purposes from today, following a campaign sparked by the detention of a multiple sclerosis sufferer who grew the plant to ease his pain.
Medicines containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's main psychoactive ingredient, can now be prescribed by doctors to ease health problems associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and AIDS, the regulation says.
The drugs can be prescribed only for up to 30 days while the overall quantity for the period cannot exceed 7.5 grams. Other marijuana use remains illegal under Croatian law.
The issue came into public focus in the European Union member-state a year ago after a man in a village near Rijeka, a northern city on the Adriatic coast, was detained for growing cannabis plants in his garden.
The multiple sclerosis patient, from whom police seized some 20 kilos (44 pounds) of marijuana, said the plants were for his personal use to make cannabis oil which helped to ease his symptoms.
His case encouraged several patient and doctor associations to publicly speak about the use of such oil and other marijuana-derived products in helping to treat certain diseases.
Earlier this year the health ministry set up an expert commission to review the issue, upon whose recommendations and a public debate the regulation was drawn up.
Until now, cannabis oil has been available on the Croatian black market for anything between 300 to 600 euros (USD 343- USD 686) for 10 grams.
Croatia joins EU countries such as Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands in allowing some degree of marijuana use.
