By Alex Rogers
The recent weeks have seen some important governmental decisions regarding the German medical marijuana program. A month or so back, a court ruling declared that the first medical marijuana patient in Germany has the right to grow his own medicine at home. This ruling is seen as a precedent for all other patients and has prompted action within the German Health Ministry to come up with clearer regulations regarding medical marijuana.
Currently, there are 650 patients in Germany. The Health Ministry’s action will hopefully create a more streamlined system for obtaining one’s medical marijuana permission, as well as, implement a supply system that is able to properly serve the rising amount of patients in Germany, especially as the knowledge benefits of medical cannabis will only increase over time.
That all being said, medical marijuana patients in Germany can currently acquire medical marijuana directly from a German pharmacy. In fact, it is quite easy. The problem is that the Dutch government, who currently supplies Germany with their medical marijuana, cannot keep up with the demand, thus, putting the emphasis and onus on the German government to license private growers in Germany. Things are changing quickly in Europe’s largest economy and it seems that they are on their way to having a robust medical marijuana program.
Last Tuesday in Berlin I had the amazing fortune to tag along with my friend Michael Knodt (one of Germany’s 650 medical marijuana patients, and a European cannabis super-star), as he purchased medical marijuana at a pharmacy in the heart of Berlin. Below, you can watch my adventure with Michael (Micha) as we whisk through the city to eventually end up with ten grams of some pretty dank Jack Herer, produced in The Netherlands and purchased and consumed in Germany!
“German medical marijuana patients are still treated like second class patients,” said Micha. ”Unlike the US and Canada, Germany can not choose from a wide range of strains with suitable cannabinoid-profiles for specific diseases. Also, due to the lack of competitors, the pricing is much too high. The cheapest variety is 15 Euros per gram. As long as the cultivation of the patient’s personal medical marijuana is prohibited and limited, more court cases against the Federal Republic of Germany will be forthcoming”
Note: In the video below I misrepresented Micha by referring to him as the Ethan Nadelmann of Europe. As I came to learn, Micha is the main guy on the scene in Europe who is a popular writer and web personality. Berlin is a city of four million, yet Micha is constantly being stopped by random people on the street wanting to get selfies with him. Auspiciously, later in the day, I did have the fortune of meeting the Ethan Nadelmann of Germany. That is another story to come.
Click here to view the videos.
This article originally appeared on MarijuanaPolitics.Com, and was republished with special permission
