Growing heavy cannabis for therapy?

For the treatment of severely ill cannabis?

07/22/2014

Today it is decided at the Administrative Court of Cologne, whether seriously ill patients may grow cannabis for therapeutic purposes for their own use. The plant, which is considered an illegal drug in Germany, is sometimes used in chronic patients for therapeutic purposes.

Patients may consume cannabis from the pharmacy

07/22/2014

This Tuesday, the Cologne Administrative Court decides whether chronically ill patients may grow the illegal drug cannabis at home for therapy purposes. Against a corresponding prohibition of public authorities five seriously ill men had sued. Like few other hundreds in Germany, the plaintiff's patients have the permission to purchase and consume cannabis blossoms from the pharmacy. But they can not afford the medical flowers financially. According to media reports, they needed cannabis worth about 800 to 1,000 euros a month.

Ill patients want to grow cannabis in their home
Since the health insurance companies do not pay and they do not help another therapy against their pain, the men want to grow cannabis in their homes. Two of the plaintiffs are reported to suffer from multiple sclerosis (MS), two from chronic pain and one from the attention deficit disorder ADHD. A permit for cultivation can only be granted by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM). But the Bonn authority has never awarded a cultivation permit.

Cannabis is illegal in Germany
In general, cannabis is consumed in the form of marijuana or hashish, especially by smoking joints, the so-called kiffen. The crumbled hashish or marijuana is mixed with tobacco and turned into a cigarette, as written in a dpa message. In some cases, cannabis products are also baked and eaten in cookies. Cannabis is illegal in Germany. Both the possession, as well as the trade and cultivation of cannabis is prohibited in this country.

Cannabis as a medicine
Cannabis has been used for a long time - also in Germany - as a medicine. The efficacy of cannabis is well documented and proven, among other things, for nausea and vomiting, or for cachexia, a condition in which severe emaciation results in extreme underweight. After numerous studies have indicated that cannabis also has medicinal potential in pain therapy, depression and many autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease, these applications are currently under intense research. (Ad)