Serbia Ponders Health Benefits of Marijuana

Zlatibor Loncar, Serbia's Minister of health, has admitted that use of cannabis can produce good results in medicine and has said that the government may legalise its use for medical treatment.

"The Ministry of Health will not object to the introduction into medicine of anything that gives results in treatment, including marijuana," he said.

"Different studies show that cannabis has good results in medicine. We will surely not step away from something that has such effects.

"However, we do not want to make decisions overnight. We want to introduce all citizens to what it's about," Loncar told Serbia's Tanjug news agency on Wednesday.

Loncar noted that Slovenia was due to host a panel on cannabis usage in medicine on Friday and Saturday.

Earlier this year, three NGOs formed a group, Lekalizacija, to lobby for the legalisation of the marijuana for medical purposes. It has said it will stage several panels where the benefits on cannabis usage in medicine will be discussed.

Their aim is to file an initiative for Serbian laws to be changed to allow legalisation of marijuana for medical treatment.

A number of European countries, such as the The Netherlands, allow patients to access cannabis on a doctor's prescription.

The picture in the US is complex, as some states have decriminalised cannabis use entirely, others allow it for medical purposes while in others it remains completely illegal.