“A New Chapter” For Medical Cannabis Advocacy In Romania, After Health Committee Rejects Six-Year Bill

Following what has been described as “six years of silence”, in February, Romania’s Health Committee of the Chamber of Deputies voted to reject legislative proposals which aimed to widen access to medical cannabis on prescription. 

Under current legislation, passed in 2013, pharmaceutical derivatives containing 0% THC (such as CBD products) can be prescribed in Romania under strict conditions, for indications such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and cancer-related nausea and vomiting. However very few patients have been able to access these medicines to date, and cannabis itself remains classified as a High-Risk Drug, with no approved medical or recreational use.

First introduced in 2019, the Victoria bill set out a framework for both specialists and general practitioners (GPs) to prescribe other cannabis-based treatments such as oil, tinctures, infusions, and inhalation, for a wider range of conditions, including chronic pain. 

The bill was rejected after just two Health Committee sessions.

Speaking in the meeting, which took place on 24 February, Deputy Alexandru Rogobete, justified the decision by stating: “We have a moral and legal responsibility to protect the population, especially young people, from the traps of a subject that, once legalised, will be impossible to control.”

Romanian campaigner, Alexandra Carstea whose petition lay the groundwork for the bill, began campaigning for wider patient access after losing her mother to cancer-related complications in 2019. Her petition gathered tens of thousands of signatures that went onto become a legislative proposal, backed by almost 100 MPs.

Carstea, who has organised a number of conferences, consultations and parliamentary debates over the last six years, says the Health Committee’s decision to reject the bill was “deeply disheartening”, if “not entirely surprising”.  She believes that that bill’s swift dismissal after “years of silence” may in part be down to “political interests”. 

Romania was plunged into political turmoil last year after surprise right-wing gains and an unprecedented move by the Constitutional Court to annul the presidential race. In December, lawmakers approved a new coalition government, made up of the leftist Social Democratic Party, or PSD, the centre-right National Liberal Party, PNL, the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party and national minorities.

Carstea was not invited to attend the meeting at which the bill was rejected, and at the previous session, held online, she says she was not given sufficient time to present her arguments. The Agriculture Committee, which was expected to provide “essential input”, especially on matters related to cultivation and agricultural policies, was also bypassed.

According to Carstea, it appears to have been “misrepresented” as a “veiled attempt” to legalise recreational use, by focusing excessively on THC and “mischaracterising” modes of administration—such as inhalation—as recreational.

Alexandra Carstea, pictured with her mother who died in 2019.

“The discussions were clouded by political demagogy and misinformation,” Carstea says.

“Rather than addressing the bill with scientific integrity and medical empathy, the debate devolved into fear-based rhetoric. But perhaps what is most telling is the speed with which this rejection was carried out—just two sessions after years of silence, with the bill sitting in a drawer for almost six years. That urgency says a lot.”

The bill will now go to the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, and could still pass without the backing of the Health Committee, but its chances of being adopted are slim.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is thought to be considering the approval of the cannabis-based medicines, Sativex and Epidiolex, which are authorised for prescription in other EU countries.

As part of her campaign, Carstea has advocated for these medicines to be available for patients since 2019, but now believes the rejection of the Victoria bill may have been “strategic” to make way for a “narrower pharmaceutical-only approach.”

“The existence of the Victoria Bill—offering both pharmaceutical and natural extract options—may have complicated their path,” she says.

“I strongly support patients’ access to all scientifically validated options, apart from natural extractions, for people to have all alternatives available.”

Alexandra Carstea has been campaigning for wider patient access since 2019.

Carstea is already working on a new version of the bill, and is preparing to resubmit it with the backing of new political figures.

She is also about to launch a new medical cannabis education framework for healthcare professionals, under the umbrella of Victoria Mea (named after her late mother), and is in the process of establishing Romania’s first national Hemp and Cannabis Federation. The courses will focus on cannabidiol, cannabinoid medicine, and the broader therapeutic potential of cannabis, led by experts from around the world. 

“Beyond the legislative path, I’ve realised that education is the heart of everything. The stigma, the fear, the resistance—they all come from a lack of understanding,” she says. 

“This is not the end — it’s the beginning of a new chapter. With every setback, we grow stronger, more united, and more determined to fight for the rights of Romanian patients.”

She adds: “I carry their voices with me every day — their pain, their hope, their dignity. They deserve a legal framework that respects their right to treatment and to live without fear.”