The Commission for Narcotic Drugs voted to remove medical marijuana from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Other Schedule IV drugs include opioids including heroin.
Of the 53 voting member nations, Ukraine abstained, 27 voted in favor including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, and 25 voted against including China, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia.
New York Times reporter, Isabella Kwai, noted, “Experts say that the vote will have no immediate impact on loosening international controls because governments will still have jurisdiction over how to classify cannabis. But many countries look to global conventions for guidance, and United Nations recognition is a symbolic win for advocates of drug policy change who say that international law is out of date.”