Montenegro’s Liberal Party proposes cannabis for patients in severe pain

Liberal Party MP Andrija Popović proposed allowing medical cannabis in Montenegro for pain associated with serious illnesses. On 13 October 2014, Beta reported that his party had put the proposal before parliament, bringing patients’ access to cannabis into the legislative debate.^[1]

Popović pointed to treatment abroad

Popović argued for medical use by referring to practices in western European countries. His party described a proposed amendment to Montenegro’s drug law, with relief from severe illness at the centre of its case.^[1]

That law had been published in 2011. Its consolidated text already allowed licensed legal entities to produce and trade controlled drugs for medical and pharmaceutical purposes. It also allowed people to hold a drug-containing medicine in the quantity prescribed by a doctor.^[2]

Those rules made licences and prescriptions part of the existing drug-control system. Popović’s proposal sought explicit permission for cannabis in medical treatment, placing a particular plant and its patients before parliament.^[1][2]

Hemp farms already faced detailed controls

The same year had brought permit rules for hemp farmers. They covered food and industrial hemp with no more than 0.2% THC in dry plant material, and required details of the field, variety, certified seed and intended harvest.^[3]

The earlier law required a permit and a buyer contracted to purchase the entire crop. It also required the grower to deliver the harvest within four months. Cannabis-related activity therefore already involved different rules for farmers, licensed medicine businesses and people holding drugs for themselves.^[2]

Patients brought their experiences into the campaign

The issue returned prominently in 2022. Pobjeda reported that a Legalizuj.me petition had attracted more than 6,500 signatures and that the Liberal Party had agreed to bring the campaign’s proposals to parliament through Popović.^[4]

The report also interviewed Edin Šarkinović, who has quadriplegia. He described receiving medical advice to use cannabis in the United States and said it improved his daily life. Back in Montenegro, he said, cannabis found at home had led to six months with an ankle monitor. His account connected the campaign’s demands to the experience of a patient facing punishment.^[4]

The debate reached beyond prescriptions

By 2022, the campaign discussed decriminalisation and regulation of the market as well as medical treatment. Other parties expressed support for medical access while calling for controls against misuse.^[4]

Read the 2022 petition story and the Montenegro profile for the campaign’s later context.