South Korea Legalizes Medical Marijuana

South Korea recently became the first East-Asian country to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes. South Korea’s National Assembly targeted patients with epilepsy, and several rare diseases which can now legally obtain medical cannabis after the country’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety gave the OK.

Until recently, South Korea had tight and heavily enforced laws surrounding cannabis regulations while still punishing recreational weed users within its border and abroad. The announcement follows Thailand’s initiative to legalize marijuana for similar medical reasons, leading Southeast Asian countries to ease cannabis regulations.

Although South Korea is lightening the laws around medical marijuana, a Korea Heral report mentioned that “the import and use of cannabis that has not been approved for medical use in foreign countries will be strictly banned.”

Countries can’t go from 100 to 0, having strict laws and criminal consequences to possessing and using marijuana to simply legalizing it for medical and recreational use. However, the topic of cannabis legalization is slowly gaining acceptance in countries where it was once severely frowned upon.