The shocking statement by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, that cannabis oil cures children from epilepsy, prompted outrage in the Macedonian public. Zaev made the comment in Parliament, when he was pressed about his business dealings with cannabis cultivation, as his family is quickly becoming the top grower of marijuana.
In his characteristically reckless style, Zaev insisted that a drop of cannabis oil makes children suffering from epilepsy “normal again”.
My family has its own investment in Sveti Nikole. People are being hired and the value is more than 100m euros. The medical cannabis market is 500 million euros and is expected to reach over trillions for medical use. It’s nice to see an epileptic kid instantly become normal with cannabis use. We were talking about investments, Zaev said during the live broadcast session of the Parliament.
The statement prompted calls for Zaev to apologize to the families of children suffering from epilepsy for the term he used about their children, but also for pushing his family business as cure for epilepsy – evidence for which is anecdotal at best.
It would be better for him to work on providing quality medicine for epilepsy, that would be available to the patients at all times and that families have normal conditions to receive treatment. Stop pushing your private business here, said VMRO-DPMNE spokesman Naum Stoilkovski.
Journalist Cvetin Chilimanov said that this statement is peak Zaev, even given the long list of manipulative comments the Prime Minister has made.
He said that the young people will return from abroad to Macedonia, he lied that he has evidence about the Neskovski, Mladenov cases, the Good Friday massacre, but his comment today, telling the parents of children suffering from epilepsy to buy Zaev’s cannabis oil so they will be healthy again, this is probably the most rotten, despicable thing he’s ever said. Lying to desperate parents, giving them false hope, to promote your business, which used to include exporting pickles past their expiration date. In the US these people are called snake oil salesmen, Chilimanov said.
Ivor Mickovski, a former SDSM party official turned Zaev critic, pointed out that the families are not even allowed to grow their own cannabis and produce their own oil. The business is heavily regulated, which favors investors with political links, primarily Zaev’s family. “Let them legally grow, distill and use it for personal and medicinal purposes. Anything else is proffiting off the back of the sick children”, Mickoski said.
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