"Germany just passed one of the world’s most progressive medical marijuana plans. The new law will put weed in more pharmacies and require public insurers to cover the costs of cannabis products, as they do other pharmaceutical prescriptions, when cannabis is prescribed for “severe conditions.”
Germany will also start growing its own weed. This will replace the old medical marijuana law, which granted permits for people to grow their own. So recreational growers will not have any excuses for ‘exotic houseplants.’
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Currently pharmacy prices for medical marijuana fluctuate from 12 to 20 euro per gram, compared to the roughly 10-euro price in the park. Who Stands to Lose from Medical Marijuana
There is clear difference between annual drug doses prescribed by physicians in medical marijuana states, and in states where weed is completely illegal, according to a 2015 study. There were 1,826 fewer painkiller doses prescribed, followed by 562 fewer anxiety medications and 541 fewer pharmaceutical nausea treatments prescribed in states where patients could be treated with cannabis.
The U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research also found that legal access to medical marijuana is linked to a significant drop in the number of people abusing and dying from prescription painkillers.
This could catch on in Germany as Germans have already started turning away from traditional pharmaceuticals to more natural products. Over half the population has used some form of homeopathic treatment, with awareness and use of alternative drugs rising steadily since their introduction to pharmacies in 1976. Germany Is Not California
It is no secret that California’s medical marijuana dispensary program has relatively lax requirements to determine who could benefit from a medical marijuana card, which are often used for recreational smoking rather than strictly for treatment of an illness. More than 91,000 medical marijuana cards have been issued since 2004, according to California’s Department of Public Health.
“Germany has much stricter guidelines than California for prescribing marijuana,” said Goerg Wurth, head of the German Hemp association. “Almost anyone who wants a prescription can get one there. In Germany things are more regulated and bureaucratic. Doctors are checking to make sure medical marijuana is not used for recreational purposes.”
There are roughly 30 illnesses for which the German government recommends cannabis, ranging from chronic pain to attention deficit disorder and epilepsy. But even after getting the green light from a doctor to use marijuana, the German system is more regimented than the dispensary model.
Instead of setting up new businesses that deal exclusively in weed, Germans must go through pharmacies. And while doctors can prescribe cannabis for a broad range of ailments, only those that prove to be “severe” will receive reimbursement from public insurers. Doctors also have more sway over what kind of cannabis you can get."
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