VALLETTA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Malta legalized prescription of medicinal cannabis products by general practitioners on Monday.

The new law means that patients will be able to access non-smoking forms of medicine at pharmacies with a doctor's prescription after a control card has been approved by the country's Superintendent of Public Health.

Patients with the following three conditions are eligible to be prescribed with medicinal cannabis: chronic pain, spasticity in multiple sclerosis and side effects of chemotherapy.

Malta's parliament started to debate on the new medicinal cannabis law at the beginning of the year.

The laws were relaxed in 2015, through legal amendments which allowed cannabis to be prescribed by specialists, under very strict conditions. That meant cannabis remained difficult to access by most patients.

In addition to the legalization of prescription of medicinal cannabis, the Mediterranean island country is also in the process of regulating the manufacture of medicinal cannabis products, with five companies having already been issued licences.