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Switzerland Clarifies Rules For Dispensing Medical Cannabis

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

Medical cannabis treatment will no longer require a special permit in Switzerland, although it is unclear whether health insurance will cover it.

Until now, doctors in Switzerland had to obtain a special exemption permit from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) to issue prescriptions for cannabis. Last year about 3,000 permits were issued. Those days have now come to a close. According to the Federal Council, this procedure is no longer appropriate, given the rising numbers of patients. Namely, it makes treatment more difficult and delays its start. As a result, the Grand Chamber of Parliament is proposing lifting the ban on the same in the Narcotics Act.

The new law stipulates that cannabis therapy should be a matter only between doctor and patient. The government will monitor prescriptions, however, and practitioners will have to submit data on the same to the government.

Insurance coverage in Switzerland has still not been decided. So for now, patients must still cover the cost of their medications.

Will Switzerland Go The Way of Holland?

The ability to prescribe cannabis directly is one of the biggest things that began to move the German market forward – but so was the ability to obtain coverage by insurers – at least in theory. There have been multiple issues between legislation and reality, to the point that patients continue to sue for access. Indeed as of October, a new ruling by the Social Benefits court ruled that the regional approvers, called the MDK, cannot interfere in the relationship between doctor and patient when it comes to prescription for the longer term.

However, trial programs, such as the ones that exist in Luxembourg, Germany, and to some extent Denmark, are also in danger of literally being overrun by the recreational discussion now also in the room. It is far easier for patients to obtain their cannabis, barring the cost, if they do not have to interact with the medical system. Indeed, that is the decision Holland made just as Germany was making the move to incorporate coverage under the formal medical infrastructure that includes insurers and regional approvers.

Given the slow trajectory Switzerland has taken so far, despite the popularity of the non-medical “Cannabis Lite” it is not unreasonable to assume that they might too, decide that cannabis is an expensive and unnecessary medicine and leave patients to their own devices.

The jury, if not report, is still out.

Make sure to book your tickets to the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Europe in 2021

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New Book On German Cannabis Cultivation Tender Pulls No Punches

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Medical.

Marguerite Arnold goes behind the scenes of the exploding German cannabis market at a critical time – the first cultivation bid.

In this fascinating, hard to put down, and perfect digital Christmas stocking stuffer, Marguerite Arnold, among other things, a veteran “foreign” cannabis correspondent, tells a story that is absolutely an insider’s account of the holy mess made by authorities and companies alike as everyone scrambled to be first in this foreign green gold rush and as modern reform came to Europe.

This is, at heart, the story of the first federal cultivation bid for the cultivation and distribution of medical cannabis in Germany – but the story stretches far beyond just that.

Green II: Spreading Like Kudzu is a lot of things – but here are a few ways to describe it – starting with being the first business book about the German and European cannabis industry. It is hard to categorize the Ebook generally beyond that – except for the fact that it is one of the few so far to cover it in ways that are both professional snapshot and intriguing for other reasons (even for people with no idea what reverse mergers or cannabinoids are). As such it is part a must-read for anyone considering entering the European if not global cannabis trade (and Arnold’s explanations of the securities exploits of the Canadian public companies is a priceless, well-documented epic, worth just the price of the book alone).  So is her easy-to-read description of some of the bigger issues about regulation and certification.

It is well-written and sourced, authoritative and often funny. As such it will also be a great introduction to the entire cannabis discussion for any relatives or colleagues with questions. Not to mention aspiring canna MBAs with international inclinations. Indeed, one of the more intriguing parts of the book is also the preface where Arnold briefly describes her own cannabis themed journeys – including winning a German Supreme Court case that is already considered one of the most important “Right To Return” reforms to domestic immigration law since WWII.

But Green is also part travelogue and time travel trip too. Arnold’s visit to a Polish cannabis safe house is a touching if not fascinating reflection of how the “movement” in Europe is still reminiscent of the scene in California, New York and Washington DC in the 80’s and 90’s – no matter how removed in geography and time. Her discussion of the politics and socioeconomic questions are also interesting, particularly coming at a time of such massive change for Germany and Europe as well as the Brexiting UK far beyond just cannabis. She also profiles leading experts, such as Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen, Raphael Mechoulam, and, from the private sector, international cannapreneurs she obviously encounters on a regular basis.

Of course it is hard to be entirely objective. She also gives the International Cannabis Business Conference kudos as the most important business conference on the planet!

Here is a brief excerpt from Chapter 4 about the conference itself:

The Cannes of Cannabis

On the first day of April, Alex Rogers strode onto a stage at a central Berlin conference hotel just two blocks from the Spree River that meanders through the middle of the city. He was here to open the third annual International Cannabis Business Conference. In front of him were close to a thousand people – all working in, in some capacity, the international legal cannabis industry from all over the world. Literally. 

The International Cannabis Business Conference is a professional conference so there are not many “wanna-bes” who show up. People who come are invested in a serious way, no matter how big or small the amount, in an industry they want a ground floor entry to as the entire conversation continues to get disruptive.

Even those who deliberately stayed home this year sent a message – namely that they could not be there without being put on the spot about burning questions only a closed and still privileged few really were in the know about. Even on that score – namely those with answers about the bid, could not defer the growing rumors, certainly by the second day of the International Cannabis Business Conference, that news about the resolution of the tender was in the air a full week before the second lawsuit against the bid in Düsseldorf had even been heard.

For this reason, including hoping to gain an inside tip on who won and those lining up for sales generated by it by this year, the International Cannabis Business Conference had become a well attended, avidly anticipated conference if not annual event. In the process, the conference has also served to create a unification point for not only a German but budding and nascent cross-European and indeed completely international industry to meet, make friends and do business. Especially as, even in the German market, Berlin was not the de facto “center” of the industry anymore. By this time, major firms and budding distributors were speckled all over the German map (including Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich and even the Ruhrgebeit’s Dortmund).

Attendees ran the gamut of firms too. Sure the big “name” Canadian producers were here. This year, however, as in years past, they also shared the conference with smaller firms now seeing Europe as a clear entry point on their roadmaps. Israelis were here in force, including vape makers Kanabo, unashamedly going head-to-head with industry standard if not fave, the German Storz and Bickel.

Yet everyone here, no matter whether they took a straßenbahn (street car) or hopped several international time zones to attend, had one clear mission: plotting the details if not logistics of their European landing. 

Looking out across this sea of faces on the first day of the International Cannabis Business Conference this year, it was hard for Rogers to contain his pride if not his excitement. This was going to be the best year ever. Attendance was through the roof and the conference sported a record number of sponsored booths and tables.

“Welcome to Berlin and the International Cannabis Business Conference, y’all,” he said, a grin splitting his face from ear to ear. 

“My sister went to Princeton, ” Rogers announced, and then paused, knowing, from experience what the next reaction from the crowd would be.  “And I went to prison.” He couldn’t help laughing himself. There is a happy ending to this story. Rogers is living it large these days.

The attendees’ laughter rippled through the assembled throng like a gurgling brook on a sunny day because it’s a crowd-pleaser every time. Including because, in too many parts of the world, being in the “biz” means taking risks and facing down dangers that seem unimaginable to most people, still.

This opening, understandably, is one of Rogers’ favorite lines, but it also sums up a section of his career path well. It may be alliterative and kind of humorous too, but it also has the poignancy of a man who has paid his dues. If not literally done his time. And that after meeting what only the most hardened entrepreneur in any industry would not call a major setback, making the choice to survive and as a result, thrive in the new era of the cannabis industry – internationally.

Rogers is a tall, rangy, GI-Joe handsome and intense man with greying sideburns. Not to mention a supreme distaste for anyone who still resists the cannabis flood.  He is, if one can give a political label to it, “pro cannabis,” and tends to fall within the more libertarian part of the industry. 

Rogers also belongs to the part of the biz that no matter his current incarnations, who worked for legalization in the “old days.” As a result, he is also, like many of his peers, of the mind-set that the present can be characterized as such: the fucking drug cures cancer, is awesome for the right people recreationally too, should be regulated and does not cause insanity much less male titties. You lost the drug war, assholes. Now let me just get on with my business, damnit.

Apart from being no bullshit, however, Rogers is also bottom line focused and has managed, without the direct support of any established “cannabis player” or “power” except a highly dedicated team, to create an intriguing brand all of his own. The vibe at the International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin as a result, manages to encapsulate the funky edginess of the scene, both presently and even a bit of its bygone days, while being clearly a deals conference par excellence. 

Even from its first year, the conference saw intense commercial activity that looked most like, truth be told, bidding wars at top film festivals rather than national agricultural promotion fairs (which is what they also function as). The former seems a bit hipper (the fashion sense certainly is). Pricing and commodity swaps and contracts aside, the characters and pure international eccentricity is certainly more like the film industry than say your average county or even national produce market. 

Even at an international level. 

And especially given the subject matter at hand. 

Cannabis users or those connected to the industry in any way can increasingly wear their “flower power” paraphernalia, pass out business cards, have LinkedIn profiles, in Europe even bank accounts, and more with pride these days. 

And are everywhere.

That comes in many flavors.

For those of a certain age who grew up literally terrorized by the Drug War, the first day of April 2019 in Berlin at the International Cannabis Business Conference certainly felt again, like a kind of vindication and a marker of a revolution that this time, will not be stopped. 

This time, globally.

Green II: Spreading Like Kudzu is now available

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Israeli Company Panaxia Pharmaceuticals Signs Deal With France

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

The Israelis are moving quickly to take advantage of the opening in the French medical cannabis market. Panaxia Pharmaceuticals has just announced a deal with Neuraxpharm, a leading European company specializing in disorders of the central nervous system. Their collaboration is intended to be a first step in establishing a manufacturing entity to commercial production and distribution of Panaxia’s cannabinoid medicinal products in France.

The model adopted for the collaboration is similar to those increasingly seen in Germany where foreign companies are partnering with established medical products providers in Europe to enter the market.

In the case of France, the companies are also clearly angling to be a medical provider for the national French medical trial, set to begin by the first quarter of March 2021. Indeed, as part of the first stages of their collaboration, Panaxia and Neuraxpharm are already planning on responding to the tender issued by the French government and medications agency ANSM, to regulate the country’s domestic cannabis market.

Panaxia is currently the only Israeli company with EU-GMP certification for the production of medical cannabis products.

The French Trial Is Looming – Will The German Mistakes Be Repeated?

While the French government is clearly copying the model of the German tender bid, it appears that some of the same mistakes will not be present here. Starting with not excluding Israeli firms.

However, given the same issues, not to mention tensions about legalization overall, which France now imports from other countries ringing it as well as the global marketplace, will this kind of alliance be the kind that inspires confidence in the market, if not effectively reaches patients beyond a 3,000 person trial now planned for spring?

The French trial, unlike the German one, expects participating companies to participate for free – rather than allowing companies to import products from another country and charging outrageous prices for the same before price controls had been set by the government, but insurance companies are still on the hook for payment.

Given Israel’s increasing global prominence in the medical market, this is a clear rebuke to Germany, where Canadian companies still dominate a market that is expanding and further requiring higher standards than those seen in other countries so far. And where repeated companies, no matter what country they hail from, have run into multiple and serial problems with quality control as well as a fully compliant supply chain.

The International Cannabis Business Conference is returning to Europe in 2021. Stay tuned!

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Medical Cannabis Is A Big Success According To Thailand’s Public Health Minister

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Medical.

Historically, the Asian continent has been home to some of the harshest cannabis laws on earth, and while that is still true in some countries in Asia, cannabis reform is starting to spread on the continent.

That is most evident in Thailand, where a young medical cannabis program appears to be thriving. In 2018 Thailand became the first country in its region to pass a medical cannabis legalization measure.

Since that time, a growing number of patients have signed up to be able to use medical cannabis legally. According to Thailand’s Health Minister, an overwhelming amount of patients are reporting positive results. Per Bangkok Post:

“At least 70% of patients in over 300 medical cannabis clinics that have opened nationwide say their symptoms have improved since starting treatment, according to Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Mr Anutin made the claim at a training session on the use of medical cannabis extracts in Muang district of Buri Ram yesterday.

Mr Anutin made the claim at a training session on the use of medical cannabis extracts in Muang district of Buri Ram on Wednesday.”

It is likely that many countries in Asia that are home to harsh cannabis laws are keeping a close eye on how things are going in Thailand to gauge whether or not they should follow suit.

With that in mind, it’s fantastic to see medical cannabis reform doing so well in Thailand. Hopefully it encourages surrounding nations to pass similar reform measures sooner rather than later.

It likely comes as no surprise to veteran cannabis enthusiasts across the globe that medical cannabis is doing well in Thailand, however, it’s very significant for passive observers to see it happening, especially those in positions of power in Asian countries.

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Italian Health Ministry Reverses Course On CBD “Narcotic”

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

If you are confused about the state of regulation in the EU, don’t feel bad. Everyone is as the rules and regulations do a few 360’s in public in Italy over the course of mere days

As frustrating as the drama is in the EU over the classification of cannabinoids, notably CBD, as a “narcotic,” the soap opera unfolding in Italy in the last few days is almost a welcome bit of humour. Call it the Spaghetti Western of cannabis reform, with a focus on the spaghetti side.

A Brief Timeline of the Canna-Flavoured Dolce Vita Afoot

For those who are confused, here is the brief timeline of events. The humour is clearly seen by reviewing it backwards.

On October 30 last week, the Ministry of Health officially declared that CBD is not a narcotic. 

A mere two days before, the same agency suspended the decree in force previously, with the stated intent of studying whether higher concentrations of CBD impact its supposed “narcotic” effect. Given what went down two days later, it seems the Italians can be efficient at some “studies” when they want to be.

And a mere five days before that, the Ministry of Health had outlawed CBD for the commercial market, singing a song out of the European Commission’s hymn book. But also effectively killing the very same “Cannabis Lite” industry that has continued to flourish in hard Pandemic hit Italy. 

Oops. Funny about that.

The Pharmaceutical Conversation Is Confusing A lot Of The Debate

Here is the first thing to understand. Beyond any muddles about scientific evidence proving efficacy, established pharmaceutical company lobbyists have done their jobs well. Namely confuse the situation, and for their benefit.

Here is one of the biggest culprits.

GW Pharmaceuticals, based in the UK, has sold the story to European regulators that one of its drugs, Epidiolex, is a “narcotic.” Naturally, calling a CBD extract mixed with berry flavoured syrup as such, justified the high price tag along with the exclusion of similar, perhaps more effective tinctures from reaching British patients (see Billy Caldwell). Not to mention a whole bunch of European ones.

Theresa May’s husband would not be so interested in holding the majority of shares of any company that failed to meet earnings expectations after all.

However, the well-placed political shareholders of GW Pharma are not the only reason this conversation has continued to stay so stupid for so long. Many regulators really do not understand the differences between cannabinoids. Much less have apparently ever been exposed to a patient who consumes THC on a regular basis and does not live life on a couch. And by this point, that fault lies in the stars of the cannabis industry itself.

At least in Italy, the Health Ministry did not put off the CBD discussion, much like what happened also last week just across the border in Germany. Not to mention Emmanuel Macron’s continued politically expedient contortions in France. 

That all of this confusion occurred almost simultaneously to what was happening as France accedes to medical utility and German Bundestag failed to move forward on a recreational cannabis reform bill while bemoaning how outdated Prohibition has become, demonstrates clearly how much the entire debate is in flux across the continent. And further, on the totality of the plant itself – not just the parsing of cannabinoids. 

It also clearly signals that the entire conversation is also ramping up a notch across Europe. No matter the short term mixed signaling going on even within the same federal agencies of countries, let alone at the Parliamentary level and certainly across borders.

Big things are happening in Europe on the cannabis front. Be sure to book your tickets to the next International Cannabis Business Conference, landing in Europe again, post-Covid, in 2021.

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Open Call For French Medical Cannabis Suppliers

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

The French government is officially looking for suppliers for its medical cannabis trial. Applications are due by November 24. Applicants may also submit questions until November 18.

What The French Are Looking For

The government is looking for GMP certified providers who can provide up to 3,000 French patients with different qualities of both raw and extracted products for free during the duration of the trial.

This includes not only the provision of the medicine itself but all costs related to import and distribution. It also includes, for floß cannabis, the requirement that the supplier provides a vaping device (per patient).

How Does This Differ From The German Bid?

The French appear to be looking for a larger cannabis producer who can bear the cost of not only medicine provision and distribution, but also of import (required) and additional equipment (vapes).

There are few companies that are in a position to meet this challenge – not only from a quality perspective, but also from a cost perspective. Even the biggest companies right now are suffering from cash flow issues.

And even though the German bid required that cannabis companies spend a great deal of money to apply for a bid that was delayed twice by legal challenges, they could at least create revenue for themselves by selling the drug in the country in the meantime.

France is indeed challenging the industry to step up – and like the German government before it only looking for “established” companies.

The question is, outside a big French pharma right now, who is willing to step into this role?

How Does This Differ From Other Countries Steps Into Legalization?

The French foray into medical acceptance actually appears to be unique. No other country has launched a national trial like this to begin its foray into normalization.

It is also clear that the French are determined to push the onus back onto the industry itself to help prove its efficacy – and further do so in a way that may help build “infrastructure” in the form of creating a distribution network with an established French company – but no more.

This is not a bienvenue, but rather a révolution à contrecœur (reluctant change of heart).

The Upside

Clearly, the focus from the beginning in France is a GMP only market where the government is not on the hook for paying for the cost of the trial – and further that any cannabis company outside the country willing to engage in the same must have either a standing or in process partnership negotiated with a French pharmaceutical company capable of fulfilling the technical requirements of narcotic distribution within France.

For the latest on the changing market picture in Europe, be sure to attend the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to the continent next year.

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Billy Caldwell Receives First NHS-Funded Cannabis, Opens Door For Other British Patients

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

The long two-year battle is over for Billy Caldwell, one of the UK’s most famous cannabis patients. The National Health Service (NHS) has agreed to provide him with government-funded cannabis for the rest of his life.

Now 15, Caldwell became an international media sensation after his mother, also an advocate and participant in the industry, went public with the fact that the supplies she was trying to bring into the country to treat her sick son were confiscated by the government at Heathrow airport.

Even more intriguingly? The prescription that Caldwell uses is not produced in the UK but rather produced in Canada, imported internationally, and paid for by the NHS. That said it is not clear that this exact model will be duplicated by the Belfast Trust, who is responsible for implementing the care plan, for other patients. Or any other NHS trust for that matter.

What Is Likely To Happen Next?

That this is a precedent-setting case is obvious – but what is the precedent likely to be?

As a subtext to all of this is that the NHS has finally admitted that the products that are produced domestically by GW Pharmaceuticals are not going to cut it for a lot of British patients.

The question on the table now, however, is where should the bulk of this “other” cannabis come from?

Buy British?

The logical caveat of course is that if locally produced cannabis oil meets muster on the regulatory side, is this, finally, the birth of the home-grown British industry? The Caldwell precedent, combined with a widely predicted ruling from the Food Safety Authority (FSA) that errs on the side of sanity from a novel food perspective, is actually really good news. And logically, the answer to that question is from a cost perspective, the answer, surely, must be yes.

While the raw products may not hail from the British Isles for a demand that is likely to be enormous on both the medical and consumer side, there are in fact companies on the horizon, established in the U.K. who are absolutely in a position to step up.

The local production of cannabis and its extracts into both food and medicine is a hot topic, particularly in Europe and even more particularly post Covid.

With such developments, it is not inconceivable that cannabis is well on its way post Brexit, to becoming as British as well, tea.

For the latest developments on the European cannabis market as well as the UK, be sure to stay tuned to our post-Covid conference schedule!

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German Patients Continue To Have To Sue Insurers/Claim Approvers

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

Without a doubt, Germany is the largest medical cannabis market in Europe (so far). There have been approximately 100,000 applications so far to the public health insurers. And there are, depending on whose estimate you are using, about 60,000 “legitimate” patients. But again, nobody is sure.

Here is what it is much easier to understand. Patients are still going through huge amounts of paperwork, stress and multiple rejections to obtain government/public health insurer-reimbursed cannabis. So much so that they are still suing (and winning). And further – many of the cases now expected to come to fruition were in fact launched almost immediately after Germany changed the law.

Two and a half years into the “German cannabis experiment” and some of these cases are now seeing their day in court if not the appeals process – which are (no surprise) coming down on the side of the patients who are bringing them.

The latest case to make the news is a Gen X woman, born in 1974. She is both on reduced earning capacity and was prescribed not even bud cannabis but dronabinol by her physician two years ago. Coverage of the same, however, has been repeatedly denied by her insurer in no small part by the botched oversight and review of the regional approver (known as the Medizinische Dienst der Krankenversicherung or MDK). All public health insurers send cannabis prescriptions to the MDK, which is why this case is also so impactful.

Initially, when the patient took the MDK to court, she lost, with a judgement against her this March.

Regardless, on appeal to the Social Court, the plaintiff was found to be within her rights to claim coverage for the drug. Further, the court found that the MDK had grossly misrepresented the plight of the patient and had written four “expert” opinions on the case without accurately describing not only the case, but also ignoring the patient’s and doctor’s rights to prescribe such a drug by focusing on perceived “negative health effects” such as an impact on appetite to dissuade coverage.

In an even more intriguing piece of fallout, the court ruled that the woman’s insurer must not only pay for the cost of the drug for a year but further, must continue to do so if she can prove a positive impact – even before the overall case has finally been decided. Not to do so would violate her basic rights (of being German).

It Still Sounds Like All Greek (if Not German) 

Here is the underlying importance of the case and why this is also likely to further force not only health insurers but all regional MDKs to get a bit more hip on medical cannabis.

  1. The first is that a woman who is severely disabled – enough for it to impact her income – has a health condition that clearly fits her eligibility for medical cannabis currently.
  2. The second is that her insurer turned her down because of (repeated) badly written coverage reports from the regional approver.
  3. The third is that the court has decided that this decision is actually in the hands of the doctor (first) not the MDK – and since the original prescriber had justifiably prescribed the drug, it was not the right of the MDK to try to sidestep the professional opinion of the primary doctor. Nor within the purview of the insurer to rely on the MDK rather than the doctor to try to deny coverage.
  4. The precedent set here is also important – namely that the insurer must pay for the drug for a year to determine if it will make a difference – and further on an interim basis while the entire discussion of medical cannabis is being examined by authorities (more generally).

Overall Longer-Term Impact – Good News For Patients

The decision is basically an escalation to the Landessozialgericht (regional social court) from the first interaction with a local one (which has now been overruled) – and further before a final regional ruling has been made. It is significant because this should (as the judges no doubt intended) stop local MDK’s from slowing down the approval of cannabis-related drugs specifically – if all other factors justify the prescription.

Logically, this should also now break a bit of a dam free in prescribing and obtaining approvals for cannabis under German healthcare. Starting with the fact that the regional approvers may not slow down the process of mandating covered payment for a drug originally prescribed (rightly) by the patient’s doctor and further for a rare condition for which no other drug could treat.

For the best update on all industry developments, be sure to book your tickets to the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Europe in 2020

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The Continuing Importance Of The German Medical Cannabis Market

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

Even with the impact of Covid, the German cannabis market has continued to power forward. Several new distribution deals have been finalized in the last six months, and a German distributor for the domestically, bid-grown cannabis has been chosen.

Furthermore, the reference price for wholesale medical cannabis flower has also been established. 

And despite the fact that they were far from copacetic about the same, German insurers are now directly on the hook to reimburse a drug they are also now setting a commercial “end-user” price for.

This means that the country, of roughly 83 million people has a working, if still evolving market for a drug, even in its raw form, a set of standards, and at least the outline of a supply chain that is totally integrated into the mainstream medical system here.

There is no other country in the world, besides Israel, that has accomplished the same.

Medical Cannabis Is Not The Only Discussion In The Room

Furthermore, despite all the advances on other parts of this discussion (namely both “hemp” and the “CBD” markets), not to mention the now ongoing drumbeat for further reform and of the recreational kind all over the continent, there is no regulated market that even comes close to what has now been firmly established auf Deutschland.

Namely, although it can still be a fight if not a major administrative, paper-strewn pain to become a medical cannabis patient, that possibility is becoming more and more mainstream.

And further, certainly, in Germany it is absolutely possible to buy hemp-based products if you want to. You just pay out the nose for high-quality product.

What Does This Mean For Other European Countries?

There is little chance that the European Union will be able to deflect if not punt on the topic of medical cannabis this December after the WHO makes what is expected to be at least a clarifying decision about what cannabis actually is. That this may still leave CBD in the “narcotic basket” is one issue. Hopefully, hemp will drop out of the discussion – leaving still the thorny issues surrounding “novel food” which will also not just fade away.

However, by redefining the plant as a drug, even if only looking at it through the THC lens, the WHO is lining up to at least support the infrastructure created nationally by a few countries (Germany and Israel being two of the leading cannabis medical infrastructures in the world). And everyone else, will in the end, find themselves playing catch-up.

For the best analysis and understanding of the changing market in Germany if not across Europe, be sure to attend the next International Cannabis Business Conference in Europe in 2021