Is cannabis about to have its moment in Germany?

The highly anticipated Cannabis Act (CanG), which would allow private and club-based cultivation for recreational adult use, is back on the German Bundestag (Parliament) docket. Although the law's proponents are looking toward early April for it to come into effect, other lawmakers are intent on holding it up, citing concerns about increased youth access and crime.

"Medical cannabis would no longer be a narcotic," Parissa Hajebi, a spokesperson for Germany's Federal Ministry of Health, told Medscape Medical News. The plan is to regulate cannabis within the framework of a separate act (MedCanG), which "would alter restrictive prescription requirements."

Concurrently, it might also remove a few of the shackles that have restricted research, according to Franjo Grotenhermen MD, executive director of the German Association for Cannabis as Medicine and the International Alliance for Cannabinoid Medicines. "If cannabis is removed from the Narcotics Act, it could make research easier, as the handling of narcotics in clinical research is much more complicated than with normal medicines," he said.

Source: MEDspace