Currently, the costs of medical cannabis for people with statutory health insurance are only covered if the health insurance company has approved this in advance (reservation of approval). The procedure established for this is daunting, lengthy and bureaucratic, especially for doctors and patients. In addition, 30 – 40 % of applications for cost coverage submitted by doctors are rejected by the statutory health insurance funds. As a result, medical cannabis – despite its proven benefits – is still not offered across the board. Sufferers are therefore currently often forced into illegality.
For these reasons, the undersigned associations explicitely support any step that facilitates the assumption of costs by the statutory health insurance funds. The associated reduction in bureaucracy will not only lead to cost savings for the health insurance funds, but also to better treatment for patients.
Particularly important from a professional point of view:
- Expansion of the proposed group of specialists to include those specialties in which medical cannabis has already proven its worth.
- Specialists in general medicine in particular should be taken into account when lifting the approval requirement, as they are the second largest prescriber group in Germany (according to the accompanying survey) and provide the majority of current patient care with cannabis medicines – also in rural areas and in view of the growing shortage of specialists.
However, an optimal care situation for patients can only be guaranteed if the reservation of approval is completely abolished in order to grant patients access to their necessary therapy regardless of their financial means. At the same time, prescribing doctors must be protected from recourse. The undersigned associations therefore call on the legislator to make the necessary adjustments as part of the upcoming regulations, within the framework of the Medical Cannabis Act (MedCanG), or as part of the reduction of bureaucracy in the healthcare sector.
In line with this, the BvCW has published its statement to the Federal Joint Committee as ELEMENTE Volume 38.
Contact for the press:
Dr. Armin Prasch
Medical Cannabis Department Coordinator of the German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW)
Phone: 01522 8815993
E-mail: ap@cannabiswirtschaft.de
Prof. Dr. med. Kirsten Müller-Vahl
Working Group Cannabis as Medicine e.V. (ACM)
Phone: 05233 953 72 46
E-mail: info@arbeitsgemeinschaft-cannabis-medizin.de
About the associations:
Working Group Cannabis as Medicine e.V. (ACM)
Contact erson: Dr. med. Franjo Grotenhermen & Prof. Dr. med. Kirsten Müller-Vahl
Phone: 05233 953 72 46
Website: https://www.arbeitsgemeinschaft-cannabis-medizin.de/
E-Mail: info@arbeitsgemeinschaft-cannabis-medizin.de
The Working Group Cannabis as Medicine (ACM) was founded in 1997 in Cologne. It brings together physicians, pharmacists, patients, lawyers and other interested parties from Germany and Switzerland. Over the past 25 years, the ACM has been instrumental in improving the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids in Germany. For example, a constitutional complaint initiated by the ACM and subsequent test cases before the administrative courts paved the way for exemption permits for the use of cannabis from pharmacies in 2007 and finally for the 2017 law.
Association of German Cannabis Patients (BDCan)
Contact person: Daniela Joachim
Phone: 0201 6485 08 52
Website: https://bdcan.de/
E-Mail: info@bdcan.de
The Association of German Cannabis Patients (Bund Deutscher Cannabis-Patienten e.V., BDCan) is a non-profit association that works to ensure that patients are provided with high-quality cannabis medicines in various dosage forms by local pharmacies in private practice and at the expense of the statutory health insurers when a therapy with cannabinoids is indicated. In addition, we offer our members support in setting up self-help groups and provide advice in these groups as well as via our hotline and e-mail on all questions relating to therapy with medical cannabis.
German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW)
Contact person & V.i.S.d.P.: Jürgen Neumeyer, Managing Director
Phone: 0163 9860 888
Technical contact: Dr. Armin Prasch, department coordinator medical cannabis
Website: https://cannabiswirtschaft.de/
E-Mail: ap@cannabiswirtschaft.de
The BvCW is the voice of the cannabis industry in Germany and represents all industry segments and company sizes to politics and administration. Our specialist areas are divided into “Recreational cannabis regulation”, “Industrial hemp & food”, “Medical cannabis”, “CBD et al.” and “Technology, trade & services”. We bundle industrial policy, technological, scientific and economic expertise and advocate for better political framework conditions.
Federal Association of Pharmaceutical Cannabinoid Companies (BPC)
Contact person: Antje Feißt
Head of the Policy Working Group of the Federal Association of Pharmaceutical Cannabinoid Companies (BPC)
Phone: 0176 569 156 44
Website: https://bpc-deutschland.de
E-mail: feisst@bpc-deutschland.de
The Federal Association of Pharmaceutical Cannabinoid Companies (BPC) ensures patient:in the best possible supply of quality-assured medical cannabis in Germany. The association promotes a sustainable further development of cannabinoid therapies and thus simultaneously strengthens the position of the pharmaceutical cannabinoid industry in Germany and in the international market.
The aim of the BPC is the security of supply of patients with quality-assured medical cannabis. The BPC bundles the expertise of its members and is instrumental in promoting ideal cultivation and supply structures for medical cannabis. This unique combination enables the BPC to represent the interests of the German cannabinoid industry in the best possible way and to position itself clearly vis-à-vis decision-makers.
German Medical Cannabis Society (DMCG)
Contact: Dr. med. Dipl.-Chem. Konrad F. Cimander, Board DMCG e.V.
Phone: 0162 2305216
Website: www.medi-can.de
E-Mail: dmcg@medi-can.de
With our visionary guiding principle “Medical cannabis – health grows!”, the Deutsche Medizinal-Cannabis Gesellschaft e.V. (DMCG) forms a platform for physicians and associated professional groups to work together on the topic of cannabis in medicine. Founded in September 2020, the purpose of the still young professional society is to promote and support scientific and practical work on research into the mode of action as well as the fields of application of cannabis-containing medicines for the prevention, treatment and aftercare of diseases, disease-like impairments or conditions as well as the holistic use in patients in the public health system. The DMCG is patron of the annual Medicinal Cannabis Congress in Berlin.
Interdisciplinary Working Group of Brandenburg Pain Therapists and Palliative Physicians e.V. (IABSP)
Contact: Dr. med. Christoph Wendelmuth & Dr. med. Knud Gastmeier
Phone: 0331 743070
Website: https://www.iabsp.de
E-Mail: info@iabsp.de
The IABSP working group was founded in Kleinmachnow in 1993. It is a group of physicians and psychotherapists from Brandenburg who are concerned with regional problems related to pain and palliative medicine and who constructively seek solutions. The IABSP has been instrumental in various ways since 2000 in bringing about improvements in the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids in Brandenburg.
Patient Association Self-Help Network Cannabis Medicine (SCM)
Contact person: Gero Kohlhaas & Maximilian Plenert
Phone: 05233 953 72 46
Website: https://selbsthilfenetzwerk-cannabis-medizin.de/
E-Mail: gero.kohlhaas@selbsthilfenetzwerk-cannabis-medizin.de & maximilian.plenert@selbsthilfenetzwerk-cannabis-medizin.de
The Self-Help Network Cannabis as Medicine (SCM) is by far the largest and oldest association of cannabis patients in Germany. It is a network of affected persons within the ACM. Together with its trained patient advisors, the local self-help groups and a patient telephone, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Cannabis als Medizin and its self-help network of cannabis patients is the leading point in Germany for those seeking advice and those interested. SCM and ACM e. V. offer information, advice, organizational opportunities and support, and thus foundations for milestones that have been fought for, such as the “Cannabis as Medicine” law.
Association of Pharmacies Supplying Cannabis (VCA)
Contact: Dr. Christiane Neubaur, Managing Director
Phone: 0208 9912 99 21
Website: https://vca-deutschland.de/
E-Mail: info@vca-deutschland.de
The avowed goal of the VCA is it to ensure in Germany an efficient and affordable supply of Patient:innen with medical Cannabis. This supply obligation sees the federation completely clearly with the pharmaceutical Expert:innen in the pharmacy. According to § 1 of the German Pharmacy Act, pharmacies are responsible for ensuring the proper supply of medicines to the population in the public interest. This is the point of contact for patients before, during and after receiving a prescription from a doctor. The pharmaceutical staff can provide optimal advice and therapeutic support.