On November 25, South Korea made history by becoming the first country in East Asia to legalize medical marijuana, albeit in a very limited form. This came as surprising news to many since their existing punishments for pot use are quite strict. Additionally, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety had previously said it would not support any marijuana use, but recently changed its tune.

Republic of Korea set to implement a limited medical cannabis market despite harsh recreational possession and use penalties that remain

Existing laws provide penalties of up to 5 years in prison for the possession or use of cannabis, as well as 100,000 million Korean won or about $88,000 U.S. dollars. They’ve even stated that Koreans using marijuana outside of Korea could be prosecuted criminally after returning home.

All this despite the existing law allowing for drugs such as opium, morphine, and cocaine to be used medically in the case of rare and incurable diseases and when patients have no alternatives. So, we think it’s highly appropriate that they made the change and will now allow cannabis as well.

The Health and Welfare Committee of the Republic of Korea proposed amendments to the Act on the Management of Narcotic Drugs that were passed by South Korea’s National Assembly on September 25, 2018.

Hemp has primarily been recognized as a hallucinogenic in the past, and its use is allowed only for government and academic research. Recently however, hematological treatment of some diseases has been proven. It is unreasonable to limit the treatment uniformly without consideration of medical efficacy or the degree of risk, and it is problematic to block treatment opportunities of domestic patients. [The reason for the amendment is] to allow hemp to be used for medical purposes in order to guarantee the rights and provide the opportunity of treatment for patients.

Health and Welfare Chairperson
Republic of Korea Bill Acceptance Letter for Bill 2016596
November 14, 2018
Translated from Korean

Patients hoping to gain access to their medicine would need to apply through the Korea Orphan Drug Center. Originally established to get expensive medications for rare and incurable diseases in the hands of patients, the center will now take up granting or denying medical marijuana licenses on an individual case basis.

In addition to the approval of the Korea Orphan Drug Center, patients would need to obtain a prescription from a licensed doctor. They will then have access to a very limited product selection, which are expected to be primarily options which are low in THC and high in CBD.

Details about exactly how the product will be produced and distributed have yet to be released, but it’s fully expected that the regulations will be very restrictive. Still, this is a big step for a country that has had such a firm stance against cannabis.

Learn more about the new South Korean medical cannabis laws

You can read the full details on the amendment to the AMND here, but the page and PDF downloads are in Korean. In order to make it a little bit easier for you to look into the details of these new laws, we’ve translated those documents and provided them as free downloads below.

Other regional countries likely to follow suit

South Korea was the second country in Asia to legalize medically, the first being Sri Lanka. There are also major pushes to do so in Malaysia and Thailand. Now that South Korea has taken the lead, it’s expected that many will follow.

South Korea legalizing medical cannabis, even if it will be tightly controlled with limited product selection, represents a significant breakthrough for the global cannabis industry. The importance of Korea being the first country in East Asia to allow medical cannabis at a federal level should not be understated. Now it’s a matter of when other Asian countries follow South Korea, not if.

Vijay Sappani, CEO of Ela Capital in Toronto
Via MJBizDaily

Hopefully the future does indeed hold more countries legalizing both medically and recreationally throughout Asia and the rest of the world.