KATHMANDU: The UN drug policy body voted on Wednesday to remove cannabis from the most tightly controlled drugs.

Member nations of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted 27-25 to remove it from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which allows national bans for drugs with “particularly dangerous properties.” One country abstained from voting.

Nepal also voted in favor of the proposal, according to Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna Prakash Kumar Subedi.

Cannabis was earlier in the same category as heroin, fentanyl analogs and other opioids. The vote came on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation to make research into the medical use of cannabis easier.