Germany begins with national cannabis cultivation Hundreds of kilograms of need

State cultivation of cannabis as medicine: first crops scheduled for 2019
In Germany, a law amendment has been passed that helps to facilitate access to cannabis for certain patients. A government cannabis agency will control the cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes in Germany. It will take several hundred kilos. First crops are scheduled for 2019.

Medical hemp for pain patients
Recently, the Federal Council approved an amendment to the narcotics legislation that makes it easier for the seriously ill to receive prescription cannabis. The new law provides for the full reimbursement of health insurance. A state-run cannabis agency based in the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) will control and control the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes in Germany.

A state-run cannabis agency will in future control the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes in Germany. Currently around 365 kilos per year are needed for around 1,000 seriously ill people. (Image: openrangestock / fotolia.com)

Cannabis is currently imported from the Netherlands and Canada
With the impending entry into force of the law "Cannabis as medicine", a cannabis agency will be set up in the BfArM, the institute reports in a statement. Immediately after its establishment, the Agency will launch an EU-wide tendering procedure and subsequently award contracts for cultivation to suitable companies.

"The aim is to ensure the future supply of seriously ill patients with cannabis grown in Germany in pharmaceutical quality," write the experts. The agency takes the cannabis after the harvest in possession, the tax then runs through pharmacies.

"First crops in Germany are scheduled for 2019," said BfArM President Karl Broich, according to a message from the news agency dpa.

According to the institute, the cultivation must first be implemented under the provisions of narcotics and pharmaceutical legislation. "The import of cannabis will also be possible beyond this time. Currently, cannabis is imported for medical purposes from the Netherlands and Canada, "reports the BfArM.

365 kilos needed annually
So far, around 1,000 seriously ill people are buying marijuana for therapy. According to the dpa report, 365 kilograms of cannabis per year would be needed for her alone.

However, doctors assume that the number of cannabis therapies will increase after release. It is said that the exemptions will expire after a transitional period of three months, but then patients will no longer need them.

Currently, sufferers usually have to pay the medical drug itself.

The BfArM advises patients not to smoke the dried cannabis flowers. Alternatives are oily solutions and drops for inhalation or swallowing.

If cannabis is smoked, then only without tobacco. Because this can reduce many of the negative health effects of cannabis, as physicians recently reported in the journal "Lancet Psychiatry".

Government continues against release of marijuana
"It is actually not about kippers or joint recipe on," said state health secretary Lutz Stroppe, according to dpa.

"The law does not change the attitude of the federal government to the release of cannabis: The self-cultivation - even for medical purposes - and its use for intoxication purposes remain prohibited," it says in a statement of the Federal Government.

One of the tasks of the cannabis agency is to prevent the substance from being diverted to the illegal market.

Who cannabis exactly helps
It has not yet been clearly defined which patients should receive the substance. Cannabis can help with multiple sclerosis and chronic pain in neuropathy or rheumatism.

The active ingredient of the hemp plant is also effective in loss of appetite, inter alia, as a result of cancer.

In addition, cannabis should be helpful against migraine, as US researchers in the journal "Pharmacotherapy" reported.

The patients who are entitled to medical hemp and want to get the costs reimbursed by the health insurance company must declare their willingness to participate in an accompanying research. This should provide data on who cannabis exactly helps. (Ad)