Pain and spasticity are the two most common patient ailments for medical cannabis prescriptions, say the German Government
Almost three quarters of all German cannabis prescriptions from a Government sample of over 6,500 are for pain – at 71%. This was followed by spasticity – a muscle condition at 11% – and anorexia at 7%, with epilepsy ADHD and Tourettes Syndrome all featuring, too. The data is based on an ongoing government survey involving 6,538 patients, as of September this year, reports the Marijuana Business Daily website.
60,000 Patients
This survey on the medical market will run until March 2022 and will then be used determine the future of medical cannabis insurance coverage. Germany’s medical cannabis program began in March 2017, and ‘The Germany Cannabis Report’ by Prohibition Partners estimates 60,000 patients have been helped, so far.
One of the most pressing issues in the German market is that it does not have the supply chain to satiate demand and has consequently granted supply licenses to three Canadian, and one domestic, producer while it encourages the development of a homegrown industry.
This comes as an increasing number of the country’s politicians are speaking out in favor of legalizing recreational cannabis.
Limited Prosecutions
Prominent members of the ruling conservative party the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have begun to openly discuss legalizing cannabis, reports Deutsche Welle. It reports CDU interior policy spokesman Marian Wendt as saying ‘cannabis could be freed for personal use…with controlled production and distribution’.
And she adds: “The resources freed in the police and judiciary should be used to fight the illegal trade.”
The CDU – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party – is the last of the major political parties in Germany to maintain a strictly prohibitive drug policy, against legalization. Last year, official government figures reported that some four million Germans use cannabis, with 17% of 18-25-year-olds saying they had used it in the past 12 months.
Despite being illegal, the state will not usually prosecute anyone found to have 6 grams of cannabis, or less – a limit agreed by state interior ministers, last year.
For more stories like this one, subscribe to the CBD Business Weekly Newsletter.