As Medical Marijuana Becomes Legal In Ukraine, Growing Support Shows Significant Shift In Attitudes
Ukraine’s medical marijuana legalization law took effect on August 16th. The news came about six months after Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a bill legalizing medical cannabis into law.
The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted a study surveying 1,067 Ukrainians about their attitude towards legalization, writes Babel. The research revealed that 43% of respondents support the reform, while 16% are against it. At the same time, a significant percentage (41%) declared a neutral stance on the issue.
The sociologists conducting the survey rephrased the question by specifying that marijuana is a “light drug,” which led to a slight increase in approval (to 45%) and a higher increase in opposition (to 23%) while neutral stance decreased to 32%.
Support significantly grew when respondents were informed of the medical benefits of marijuana, resulting in 57% approval, 14% disapproval and 28% remaining neutral or undecided.
Regional differences were noted, with the most support (regardless of the wording of the question) coming from central Ukraine and the least from the south. Eastern Ukraine had the highest …