The United Nation’s has narrowly voted to remove cannabis from a list of the world’s most tightly controlled and dangerous drugs.
Weed was previously on Schedule IV of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs’ list, alongside heroin, fentanyl analogues and other opioids that are often deadly.
The decision to downgrade follows the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendation last year to make research into the medical use of cannabis easier.
27 of the Vienna based commission’s member states, including the US and European countries, voted in support of declassifying the drug on Wednesday, December 2.
While China, Egypt, Russia, Pakistan and Nigeria were among the 25 countries who voted against the move, while Ukraine abstained.
According to WHO, weed helps in reducing pain and nausea, as well as easing symptoms of medical conditions such as anorexia, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis and does not carry a significant risk of death.
