German restrictions of patient’s access off the table

Bedrocan highly welcomes that drastic restrictions of patient’s access to medical cannabis discussed in Germany are off the table. The German G-BA (Federal Joint Committee, a decision-making body regulating reimbursements for patients with public health insurance in Germany) decided on March 16 to cancel plans to tighten the currently applicable rules for prescribing medical cannabis. According to the original G-BA draft, most doctors could have lost their right to prescribe medical cannabis and health insurances could have refused a larger proportion of prescriptions. As the largest supplier of medical cannabis in the EU and the only purely pharmaceutical market player with an exclusive focus on patients, Bedrocan is pleased with the fact that the initially proposed restrictions are not being implemented.

Bedrocan CEO Jaap Erkelens comments: “Our experiences from Canada and the Netherlands show that such restrictions would have led to shortcomings for suffering patients. They would have been forced into the black market and into medically unaccompanied self-medication. We are relieved that decision makers in Germany understand this danger, which increases even further with the planned liberalisation of recreational cannabis. Before that liberalisation, patients’ access to medicinal cannabis should not become more difficult but easier.”