Experts in simplified dispensing of medical cannabis
Health/Hearing – 03/15/2023 (hib 200/2023)
Berlin: (hib/PK) In a hearing by the Health Committee, experts with opposition proposals on how to deal with cannabis expressed their views. Experts took the view that access to medicinal cannabis should be simplified. At the same time, experts advocated a decriminalization of cannabis, but preferably as a transition towards a comprehensive legalization of cannabis. The experts expressed their views on Wednesday in the hearing of the committee as well as in written statements.
In its motion, the Union faction calls for (20/5561) a better supply of patients with medicinal cannabis. One challenge is the high administrative hurdles in the approval procedures in the statutory health insurance companies in connection with the assessment procedures by the medical service.
The left-wing faction wants to achieve a decriminalization of cannabis with an amendment to the Narcotics Act (BtMG). The legal and social consequences of criminalization are considerable for those affected, according to a draft law (20/2579) of the faction. MEPs propose allowing adults to purchase and possess up to 30 grams of cannabis or cannabis resin.
The Association of Cannabis Supplying Pharmacies (VCA) called for simplification of bureaucratic access to medicinal cannabis. Only about two-thirds of the applications were decided positively, whereby in most cases a complex objection procedure had to be gone through. The VCA also called for the establishment of cannabis-based medicine in medical and pharmaceutical education in order to impart sound knowledge and improve patient care.
Johannes Horlemann from the German Society for Pain Medicine also addressed the lack of expertise among doctors in the committee. Many patients remained excluded from cannabis therapy because their doctor did not want to prescribe it or was not familiar with it.
Criminal lawyer and criminologist Robin Hofmann from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands commented on the draft law of the Left Group and explained that the draft law regarding the legalization of the possession of 30 grams of cannabis for recreational purposes does not conform to either international or European law. Decriminalization is not expected to reduce the black market for cannabis. Consistent legalization is preferable to decriminalization.
The Association of German Criminal Investigators (BDK) supports the decriminalization of cannabis in principle, but considers the left-wing faction’s motion to be too vague. In the event of legalization, the BDK demanded that the entire manufacturing and distribution process be legalized and controlled. As was made clear in the hearing, the BDK doubts that the black market could be dried up by selling cannabis in any way organized. Dealers could probably always offer their drugs cheaper than official dispensaries.
The German Hemp Association (DHV) spoke out in favor of decriminalization and argued that there are around 180,000 criminal proceedings for consumption-related cannabis offenses every year, more than 80 percent of which are directed against consumers. In the committee, a DHV spokesman said that such criminal proceedings are no small matter, but may involve house searches, telephone surveillance and a humiliating body search.