Setbacks in Germany due to delays in forward reform

There was a great deal of excitement in Germany last September, particularly in the German cannabis industry, when the new “traffic light” coalition announced that it was finally beginning the details of a full legalization of recreational cannabis.

However, as spring begins to think of its arrival, the excitement in Germany has started to fade with government officials’ repeated pronouncements of late that there are more urgent priorities (from COVID to, presumably, the Russia-Ukraine crisis).

In the meantime, significant problems persist on the ground for both industry and patients.

Therefore, according to Kai-Friedrich Niermann, a specialist lawyer for industry, who is now conducting legal proceedings against the federal government on behalf of his clients to clarify the rules for the import of hemp: “Every day there are pleas for a complete and final reform, in the Moment. In court, with the regulatory authorities, on the market. There are many issues that can only be addressed by normalizing this market.”

setbacks in the industry

Never mind that Frankfurt-based Cansativa, the company that won the (monopoly) contract granted by the BfArM to distribute German-grown medicinal cannabis, is suddenly proclaiming its excitement about the emergence of the recreational market (especially after its recent cash injection from Snoop Dogg) , the reality is that recreational pot is still a few miles away. Additionally, the medical industry suffers from several major problems, starting with the cost of cannabinoid treatments, not to mention government and health insurance companies’ reluctance to pay for them.

In a case decided on Monday in Karlsruhe, which is more likely to lead to challenges than to permanent jurisdiction, the social court decided unconvincingly and actually only in repetition of the law of 2017 that patients may only receive such drugs in exceptional cases and under strict conditions. This also ignores the fact that the judiciary probably knows how much danger and risk there is for doctors.

Doctors, as they are known in Germany, have to foot the bill for the drug they prescribe to their patients if they are not covered by the insurers and government agencies behind them. It is assumed that any doctor who takes this risk is already familiar with the “last resort” discussion.

The plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the Medical Service Health Insurance (MDK) and the patient’s health insurance company after being denied compensation for an oral cannabis spray.

The doctor wrote that his 27-year-old patient suffered from chronic pain syndrome (the most common reason medical cannabis is prescribed and approved in Germany). He also wrote that the patient was not able to relieve the pain in his back and legs with other treatments. This is supposedly the test used in such cases, at least under the 2017 law.

However, the court ruled that other treatments should also be tried.

The reaction from the cannabis industry here has been quick. “There are several things that urgently need to be updated,” said Lisa Haag. Haag is a Berlin-based consultant, patient advocate and CEO of MJUniverse GmbH, which organizes educational events around cannabis and helps pharmaceutical companies to better understand the plant.

“These are terribly high, if not contradictory, hurdles,” said Haag. “Why can’t the other proposed treatments be done in combination with cannabis? Beyond that, the direction is contradictory. As suggested by the court, they force you to stop cannabis treatment. That’s ridiculous. The expensive bureaucratic processes still prevent access.”

Haag also noted that this was only a court decision, others emphasized the doctor’s responsibility for therapy. It is widely expected that the patient will appeal to the tongue-twisting state social court in Baden-Württemberg.

In addition to this decision in the medical discussion, there was another setback for the industry – this time on the side of industrial hemp. A German energy company, Leag, just announced this week that it is shelving its two-year experiment in open-pit hemp cultivation. Leag conducted the cultivation experiment to determine whether new business opportunities could be derived from the cultivation of the plant, including products that could be made from industrial hemp.

The company also announced that it would reconsider its decision if “changed framework conditions or new developments arise that make the new business area attractive and economically viable again”.

“We report exactly such problems to the government, because they need to know about them and start prioritizing the passing of the law,” said Kai-Friedrich Niermann. “I won’t have as much process work of this nature, but I won’t regret it.”