European Union Commission Clears Transnational Medical Marijuana And Research Initiative For Signature Gathering – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

European Union (EU) officials have cleared activists to launch a signature drive for a multi-national initiative that would foster access to medical marijuana and promote research into the therapeutic potential of cannabis.

The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to partially register the initiative, meaning advocates will have six months to start a petitioning drive and then one year after that point to collect one million signatures from at least seven member states to force consideration of the proposal.

The activists behind the measure laid out three objectives they want the commission to pursue, but the body said it could only register two of them.

One approved objective asks the commission to “foster access to medical cannabis and allow the transportation of cannabis and its derivatives prescribed for therapeutic purposes to ensure the full enjoyment of the right to health.” The other requests that EU allocate “the necessary resources for researching cannabis for its therapeutic purposes.”

The commission said it is not in a position, however, to register another objective to “convene a trans-European citizens’ assembly on cannabis policies, including sanctions and the consistency of Member States’ policies.”

“The Commission had to refuse the registration of the first objective of the initiative, as it falls outside the Commission’s powers to submit a proposal for a legal act on this matter,” it said.

“The Commission…