July 12 and 13
Join the
Kiev Medicinal Cannabis Happening

The Recovery of the Lost Plant

Aware of the upcoming fight for legalization of the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes in the Ukrainian parliament, the Drugs Peace Institute asked Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen, executive director of the International Alliance for Cannabinoid Medicine, to forward relevant scientific data to the “Patients of Ukraine,” a Kiev based foundation run by a group of dedicated women. This foundation acts as an umbrella organization for more than 50 Ukrainian patient organizations fighting for people with serious illnesses to be able to alleviate their suffering through the use of medicinal cannabis-based treatments.

Dr. Grotenhermen complied at once with the request. The papers he sent to Kiev were presented by the “Patients of Ukraine” to the parliamentary commission treating the upcoming legislation, and shared with the highest levels of government.
We were happily surprised some days later, June 28th, Ukraine’s Constitution Day, when president Zelensky, in addressing the Verkhovna Rada, the unicameral Parliament of Ukraine, stressed the need to approve the legislation, “so that Ukrainians, all our citizens, do not have to endure the pain, stress, and trauma of war.”

Over three thousand years ago, so the epic story goes, an Anonymous Woman, wife of Utanapishtim, prodded her husband to give King Gilgamesh a secret present of the gods: the plant of heartbeat, plant of rejuvenation.
Actually, the gift was not intended for the king, but for his people back home in Uruk, the foremost city of antiquity. According to the story, Gilgamesh, as irresponsible as only a king can be, irretrievably lost the plant on his way back home.
But the loss of the plant had been a fake story, made up by Babylonian priests intend on taking power away from the king. The plant was not irretrievably lost, and people continued to use it secretly, to let their inner voice reveal its truth, for their spiritual and physical wellbeing.

In Kiev president Zelensky, unlike king Gilgamesh of the story, has appealed to the national parliament to vote for the acceptance of the plant, for the wellbeing of his people. He doesn’t want to lose the plant that will enable his people to rejuvenate and recover from the horrors of the Russian War of Extermination.
We therefore call upon all cannabis activists, victims of the War on Drugs, to stand with president Zelensky and help him not to lose the plant on its final leg to the Ukrainian people.
We invite women activists to stand with their Ukrainian sisters in defence of the medicinal use of cannabis, to follow in the footsteps of Utanapishtim’s wife, and join us in the June 12 and 13 Kiev Medicinal Cannabis Happening, ”The Recovery of the Lost Plant," showing the people of Ukraine that we stand with them in their suffering, showing the world the healing power of cannabis.

We hope to see you in Kiev to celebrate the recovery of the lost plant.
In case you won't be able to make it, you can sign the petition. You can also send your own testimonial (petition@patients.org.ua) in praise of cannabis, for the enlightenment of the peoples' parliamentarian representatives, and in support of their vote to make cannabis-based medicines available to their nation.

Testimonial from Béatrice Budin, French medicinal cannabis activist