Thanks to a major regulatory change, cannabis patients in Germany will experience a great deal of relief this summer. The long-feared need for health insurance clearance prior to obtaining a prescription for cannabis has finally been removed. This change holds the potential to speed up and ease the accessibility of cannabis-based treatments.
Simplified access and autonomy for doctors
In the past, health insurance companies have often declined to pay for cannabis therapies like THC oil and cannabis flowers since they were the responsible “Medical Service.” These rejections frequently ignored the pain of the victims and went against the advice of the attending physicians. It was ridiculous to deny doctors, who were in the best position to decide on such matters, the authority to prescribe the precise details of a patient’s treatment. Rather, insurance companies put their own financial interests ahead of the health of their patients.
This approval requirement was removed, which is a significant change. That makes it easier and faster for doctors to prescribe cannabis. Additionally, the modification eliminates the need for the previously required and frequently troublesome insurance company approvals for modifications to cannabis products.
Doctors no longer have to deal with the administrative obstacles. Previously they were unable to independently determine whether a patient needed medical cannabis has wide-ranging effects on all areas of medicine.
Medical cannabis for patients in Germany
Patients can now more swiftly and precisely obtain the appropriate cannabis medication thanks. Physicians should feel much-needed despite from the necessity to submit several applications and the possibility of financial penalties, even though they are still free to consult with insurance companies.
The change eliminates the need for overly detailed laws pertaining to specific medical problems, which further optimizes the prescription procedure. Instead, basing on the current knowledge of healthcare specialists, the emphasis is now on 16 medical specialties. This simplified method lowers red tape and guarantees patient safety, which eventually improves access to medicinal cannabis.
Cannabis as a ready-made medical product?
Debates had previously arisen among associations and insurance representatives about whether cannabis should be classified as a ready-made medicinal product. Though it has a long history of use as a herb for medicine and has been thoroughly studied as a therapeutic agent in contemporary states, German officials stuck to their routines, making things more difficult and expensive. For example, pharmacies were charging hefty markups for grinding cannabis. It was a service that many patients didn’t even want.
As a result of these unnecessary complications, patients got offers for cannabis concentrates instead of natural cannabis flowers for smoking or vaporization, despite the former sometimes being less effective. This discrepancy in effectiveness, side effects, and dosing has left some associations at a loss following the removal of the extra approval requirements.
Could this signal the path towards making cannabis a standard medication? It’s possible, as even in pediatric and adolescent medicine, THC prescriptions are now available. While it will remain rare to prescribe medicinal cannabis to very young patients, the latest research suggests that excluding this group entirely is no longer justified. Medical cannabis is now officially important for use in typical fields such as gynecology and pain therapy.
Easy access to medical cannabis: future implications
The treating physician is now the only one who may decide whether to prescribe cannabis; further training is not necessary. But the predicted rise in prescriptions can pose problems, especially in palliative care, where maintaining a consistent supply of THC is essential, especially as demand rises.
The new practice will be evaluated in 15 months. While cannabis should not become a standard medication in general medicine, it will be interesting to see how associations position themselves after this future review. Although pharmacies have yet to respond, there has been notable reaction from the cannabis industry and import companies. Patients will benefit from reduced waiting times, doctors will face less stress with paperwork, and the import, distribution, and dispensation of cannabis in Germany may soon be almost as straightforward as it is in North America.