The European Court of Justice has judged that a seriously ill Russian man, who is being treated in the Netherlands, cannot be deported back to his home nation because medical cannabis is not available in his country.
The case relates to a Russian man who developed a rare form of blood cancer at the age of sixteen. During treatment in the Netherlands, doctors provided him with medicinal cannabis as a form of pain relief. However, in Russia, medicinal cannabis is not allowed.
According to a report in Belgian newspaper HLN, the man has submitted several asylum applications to the Netherlands, the last of which was rejected in 2020. Yet in the opinion of the man, who is not named, he should be at least given a residence permit given that if his treatment using medicinal cannabis were terminated, it would no longer be a humane way to live.
It appears as though the European Court of Justice agrees with this position after they judged that a third-country national suffering from a serious illness cannot be removed if they are unable to receive adequate treatment in the country of destination and therefore face the risk of a rapid, significant and irreversible increase in pain.
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