Europe: Germany Opens Door to Medical Marijuana
Beginning this week, a handful of patients in Germany have approval to start receiving medical marijuana from a Belgian firm that produces it for the Dutch government's medical marijuana program. Belgian medical wholesaler Arsus NV, whose subsidiary Fagron Netherlands supplies medical marijuana in Holland, announced in a Monday press release that its Fagron Germany subsidiary has been granted an exclusive license to import and distribute medical marijuana in Germany.
[inline:bfarmgebauderuckansicht.jpg align=right caption="Germany's Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, Bonn (courtesy Wikipedia)"]Medical marijuana is not recognized by Germany's Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte - BfArM), but the regulatory agency has allowed four patients to use marijuana since August 2007. Those exceptions came at the urging of doctors and only after it was established that no other treatments were effective.
Germany is now inching closer to full membership in the medical marijuana club, which is currently limited to a small number of countries, including Canada, Holland, and Israel. The US has its own federal medical marijuana program, but since access to it was cut off more than two decades ago, it will go extinct as soon as the last remaining patients receiving marijuana under it do.
On the other hand, the US is also home to the largest population on the planet living in jurisdictions where states have legalized medical marijuana. Roughly one-quarter of the US population lives in medical marijuana states. But they remain vulnerable to federal interference.
Comments
if only
if only state laws could override the federal laws the medical users could live without fear in the USA but then again with out fear the government does not have anything to control us with
In reply to if only by Anonymous (not verified)
 Here in the U. S. there is
Here in the U. S. there is going to be nationwide protest. We want marijuana legalized, also. The protest will on 4-20-2011. We would like to make this a worldwide event. Would you be interested in getting in on this very important protest???
human rights? what´s that?
Sinse when do good honest people have the right to decide whether or not they want to put something in their bodies! Well we all know that Mc Donalds causes obesity alongwith more serious health risks then smoking pot, but that´s legal because there´s greedy rich people behind it putting pressure on the government and claiming their rights! But who cares about what individuals want! In Britain they can kill soldiers in training that are only sixteen! who cares anyways their supposed to die in Iraq! All this to say to all the ignorant people out there is " You don´t have any rights only what we the government dictate! you can kill people in an illegal war and get away with it! As well as forcing strong healthy military men to recieve quote and quote medication without questioning with fear of being courtmartialled! so why should people obey the money worshiping capitallistic lie of the goverment when they say it´s for our good! feed that crap to monkeys not me. Go ask the malaysian goverment why they think it´s cool to hang an elderly man for smoking pot! makes me sick. see you all in concentration camps soon! maybe FEMA camps who knows.
How?
Something I have not understood is that how can the government tell us what we can and can't do? Honestly the only reason it isn't legal is because they can't tax it. WHY TAX IT???? I would be willing to bet that if the U.S. were to legalize marijuana not only would we save governmental funding for prison's and jails due to people getting arrested for smoking pot. Alcohol is perfectly legal but yet people throw their lives away to drinking. Drinking also leads people to so many more health problems. There isn't a single problem with marijuana even scientists have researched it and proven that it doesn't kill brain cells. To be honest we don't have any money to throw around anymore. If this government truly cared about us, the people they would answer half of America's wish for marijuana to be legal. Even the fact of driving a vehicle under the influence of marijuana they dramatize the effects much more than they really are and make up for it.
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