BERLIN: Germany´s government gave the go-ahead on Wednesday to relax rules on cannabis use by the seriously ill from early next year if they have ** other treatment options.
Dried
cannabis flowers and
cannabis extracts will be available in pharmacies on prescription and the public health system will cover the cost, according to the draft bill that is expected to come into force from spring 2017.
Other countries that allow
cannabis use for
medical purposes include Portugal, Italy and the Czech Republic. Some U.S. states have decriminalised
cannabis completely.
Until **w, seriously ill people in
Germany with cancer, AIDS, Parkinson´s disease or multiple sclerosis could only access
cannabis with special approval and had to pay themselves.
"Our aim is that seriously ill people are treated in the best possible way," Health Minister Hermann Groehe said in a statement.
The government is to set up specially supervised plantations to grow
cannabis and will import what it needs for **w.
IBISWorld, a market research firm, projects sales of marijuana for
medical use to increase to $13.4 billion in 2020 from $3.6 billion in 2015.
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