Het Oost-Europese land Bosnië en Herzegovina heeft onlangs een belangrijke transformatie in de medische sector doorgemaakt. De regering heeft de "Catalogus van verdovende middelen, psychotrope stoffen, planten die gemakkelijk kunnen worden omgezet in verdovende middelen en hun voorlopers" officieel herzien, waarbij cannabis, cannabisresin, cannabisextract en -tinctuur van de lijst met verboden stoffen zijn verwijderd en zijn opgenomen in de lijst met stoffen die onder strikte regelgeving vallen. Dit betekent de officiële legalisering van het medische gebruik van cannabis in Bosnië en Herzegovina.

Regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina, most people have never heard of it, but if you mention Yugoslavia, many people might know about it.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was a member state of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Its full name is Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe, with a total land area of 51,200 square kilometers and a population of approximately 3.53 million. It is a country that integrates diverse cultures and natural endowments.

New Policy: Medical Use under Strict Regulation. Bosnia and Herzegovina's legislation this time does not fully liberalize the use of cannabis, but rather establishes a clear regulatory framework to ensure the purity of its medical attributes:
• 1. The scope of application is limited to medical scenarios. Individuals must obtain cannabis preparations approved by Bosnia and Herzegovina's drug regulatory authority with a doctor's prescription, and the entire process of import, prescription, and use is registered and filed;
• 2. It explicitly prohibits the unregulated free circulation of cannabis preparations. The production, circulation, possession, and other links are all under strict official supervision;
• 3. It simultaneously maintains the crackdown on illegal cannabis production, circulation, and possession. Shortly after the legislation was enacted, a U.S. woman carrying electronic cigarettes, gummies, and pills containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was seized at Sarajevo International Airport. She was suspected of drug trafficking and has been transferred to the procuratorate.

Legislative Background: Aligning with International Consensus and Responding to People's Livelihood Needs
Bosnia and Herzegovina's decision is not accidental but the result of the joint promotion of multiple factors:
- Aligning with international standards: This move is consistent with the decision of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in 2020. As early as 2018, the World Health Organization's Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), at the call of the CND, conducted a comprehensive review of the content related to cannabis control in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and put forward six revision proposals, providing an international basis for the legalization of medical cannabis in various countries.
- Solving the dilemma of the gray market: Dubravka Bošnjak, Minister of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointed out that the complete prohibition of medical use of cannabis has instead spawned an unregulated gray market, where inferior cannabis preparations are traded at high prices, seriously endangering patient safety. The combination of legalization and strict supervision can not only allow patients to obtain safe and compliant drugs but also effectively crack down on the black market.
- Responding to private medical demands: In recent years, Bosnian media have repeatedly reported cases where patients have been treated with cannabis preparations and benefited. These real medical cases have become an important private force promoting legislation.
A Decade-Long Game: Resistance and Breakthroughs Among the Four Major Interest Groups. The legislation on the medical use of marijuana in Bosnia and Herzegovina took a full 10 years, during which it encountered obstacles from four major interest groups:
1. ① Black market operators, drug dealers, and illegal practitioners: They profit from illegal transactions and are unwilling to change the status quo;
2. ② Some pharmaceutical companies: Worried that the legalization of medical marijuana will divert their market share and affect profits;
3. ③ The "import faction": Support legalization but advocate only importing marijuana products;
4. ④ The "local faction": Approve of legalization but require that marijuana products must be produced locally in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With the continuous promotion of supporters such as SDP (Social Democratic Party) MP Saša Magazinović, the demands of all parties were gradually coordinated, ultimately facilitating the enactment of the legislation. It is worth mentioning that Magazinović was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2019. Although he has not publicly stated that he has used marijuana preparations, he has always firmly supported relevant legislation.