The Russian Government has approved a draft law that will allow state companies to cultivate a wide range of narcotic and psychotropic substances plants for medicinal purposes, RBC business news website reported.
Along with opium poppy, the government will permit cultivation of coca plant, psilocybin mushrooms, and even cacti used to produce mescaline, a psychedelic alkaloid known for its strong hallucinogenic effects. According to Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, this will allow solving the drug safety issue as Russia currently purchases narcotic substances from the countries that have introduced anti-Russian sanctions.
“At the moment, we purchase nearly 100% of [such] substances as imports and use them to produce finished dosage forms. We will use two our enterprises, Moscow Endocrine Plant and State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, to apply their experience, capabilities and technology to cultivate medicinal plants and produce substances”, Manturov noted.
In particular, state companies will receive an opportunity to grow poppies containing high levels of opium alkaloids. This will require only 100 hectares of land, which is enough for producing the corresponding substance to satisfy the country’s demand. Russia’s Ministry of Healthcare has approved the initiative.