Berlin, 2021-02-01: The Free Democratic Party (FDP) parliamentary group has submitted a motion in the German Bundestag to change the mandatory approval requirement for prescribing medical cannabis into a voluntary procedure. If approval is granted, physicians would also be protected from financial liability (regress). While recourse cases involving medical cannabis are rare in practice, the fear of liability still discourages many doctors. This concern could be alleviated by the initiative of FDP Member of Parliament Dr. Wieland Schinnenburg. Additionally, this would allow prescriptions for publicly insured patients during the first consultation. The link to the motion can be found here.

Jürgen Neumeyer, Managing Director of the German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW), commented: „As representatives of the cannabis industry, we welcome the FDP initiative, as it addresses the high rejection rate of cannabis therapy applications (around 40%) by health insurance funds and proposes a significant reduction in bureaucratic barriers to prescribing. Adoption of this motion would strengthen the therapeutic authority and legal security of physicians, reduce bureaucracy, and improve patient access to medical cannabis.”

Dr. Wieland Schinnenburg, member of the Health Committee of the German Bundestag and spokesperson for addiction and drug policy of the FDP parliamentary group, explained to the BvCW: „The current legal situation regarding the prescription of medical cannabis is unsatisfactory and does not adequately reflect either scientific findings or the actual care needs. Seriously ill patients often have to wait up to five weeks to receive a prescription for medical cannabis. The requirement for prior approval unnecessarily limits the physician’s freedom in making treatment decisions. It is time to replace mandatory bureaucracy with voluntary legal safeguards. The eligibility criteria of § 31 Paragraph 6 Sentence 1 of the Social Code Book V (SGB V) already ensure that medical cannabis is only prescribed under strict conditions. Unlike a complete elimination of the approval requirement, the proposed solution offers legal security for physicians in complex cases through a clearly defined legal process. Doctors can also rely on the approval presumption of § 13 Paragraph 3a SGB V if the health insurance provider takes too long to respond.”

In the past, the Bundestag parliamentary groups of Alliance 90/The Greens (BT-Drs. 19/5862) and The Left Party (BT-Drs. 19/6196) had called for the complete abolition of the approval requirement. Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen and Dr. Kirsten Müller-Vahl of the Association for Cannabis as Medicine (ACM) expressed concern in the Bundestag that this could lead to fewer prescriptions (link).

„With three parliamentary groups now advocating for reform, we in the cannabis industry expect changes to take place no later than after the federal election. The FDP’s proposal could potentially serve as a compromise solution,” added BvCW Managing Director Neumeyer.

Recently, the German Society for Pain Medicine (DGS) also proposed a new regulatory model based on selective contracts with health insurance providers. More on this can be found in the ÄrzteZeitung.