Germany - By a letter of 9 August the Federal Institute for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products (FPMP), an agency of the Federal Health Ministry, for the first time issued a certificate of exemption for the medical use of cannabis extract. The 51 year old patient from Baden-Wuerttemberg had applied for a certificate of exemption for the import of cannabis from the Netherlands. Instead, the agency suggested she use a cannabis extract, which would be made available by pharmaceutical companies at the end of August.

So far, the price of the extract to patients is unknown. The FPMP had said earlier, that it will cost only a fraction of pure dronabinol (THC). Additional patients have also applied for a certificate of exemption for the import of cannabis from the Netherlands or for cultivation for personal use, but insist on their applications so that legal proceedings are expected to take place before administrative courts on this issue. In a ruling of 19 May 2005 the Federal Administrative Court had decided, that the FPMP cannot generally dismiss all applications by patients for an approval of the medical use of cannabis. In the case of cannabis, cultivation for personal use should be considered. However, the FPMP stated that both cultivation of cannabis for personal use and import of cannabis from the Netherlands will not be approved.

On 9 July, a patient with Crohn's disease, whose application had been dismissed by the FPMP, was remanded for the import of cannabis. On 16 August a patient with hepatitis C was sentenced to one year in prison without probation for possession of cannabis. His application to the FPMP was also dismissed earlier this year. "It is shameful that a civilized country does not find options for these patients other than treating them as criminals and throwing them in jail," said Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen, Chairman of the German Association for Cannabis as Medicine.

(Source: Association for Cannabis as Medicine)