Cannabis plantation worth $400,000 discovered in southern Ukraine

Cannabis plantation worth $400,000 discovered in Kherson region, southern Ukraine.

Law enforcement officers of the Strategic Investigation Directorate in Kherson region exposed a criminal group, whose members had a whole plantation for growing hemp bushes amid the Kherson floodplains. They planned to sell the “harvest” on the territory, as reported by the Communication Department  of the Police of Kherson region.

On July 17, the SID officers together with the investigators of the regional police headquarters, under the procedural guidance of the Kherson regional prosecutor’s office and the support of a special police unit KORD, documented the criminal activities of “drug agrarians”. They found 1,768 hemp bushes and 15 kg of dried drug crop, worth more than 10 million UAH (about $400,000). 

The men cultivated drug crops among the flooded areas on the left bank of the Dnieper using all the necessary technologies. To care for the plants, they used a walk-behind tractor and a portable motorized pumping station, as well as various fertilizers to accelerate plant growth.

Law enforcement officers detained two defendants in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and are conducting investigative activities in relation to two more persons.

Criminal proceedings were opened under Part 3 of Article 309 “Illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation or shipment of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues without the purpose of sale” and Part 2 of Article 310 “Planting or cultivation of sleeping poppy or cannabis” of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Investigative actions are ongoing.

Meanwhile, Ukraine partially legalized the use of medical cannabis.

The Cabinet of Ministers made legal the use of some drugs in Ukraine, which contain cannabis for medical use. This is stated in the resolution on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website, which was published on April 7.

On May 20, 2019, a bill on the legalization of medical cannabis was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The relevant document was developed to fulfill the petition registered on January 30, 2019.

As Esther Shohami, Professor emeritus of pharmacology at the Institute for Drug Research at the Hebrew University, noted in an interview with ZN.UA, cannabis is much better than many other pain relievers. After all, pain relievers are often opioid – toxic, with dire side effects. According to Shohami, they are addictive and are frequently overdosed, whereas cannabis is actually indispensable for cancer and a number of neurological diseases.

EMPR

Source: zn.ua, censor.net

Tags: Business Ukraine