GERMAN COURT GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO CULTIVATE MEDICINAL MARIJUANA AT HOME
Germany may soon become the Valhalla for pot lovers after a court decision to allow one individual from Germany’s ever-growing list of medicinal marijuana users to cultivate the drug at home. The verdict came across as an immense shock to various medical and non-medical communities.
It is all due to the case of one Michael F, who’s tenacity allowed him to cultivate the remedy at his house. Michael has been fighting for his right to grow marijuana for more than 16 years, during which he filed countless of lawsuits and spent weeks in courthouses trying to win. Michael who is a resident of Southwest Germany suffers from multiple sclerosis and as he claims he cannot afford to buy marijuana on a regular basis. Since buying the drug in other sources is illegal Michael thought about growing the drug himself. Because he suffers from various disorders, paralysis and extreme depression on a daily basis, he needs medical marijuana to function normally. The cost for the medication may reach up to €1500 per month, which he says, has a devastating impact for his family budget.
April 2016 was a pivotal moment for legal medicinal marijuana in Germany when Michael was granted permission from the Federal Administrative Court to grown marijuana in his house. Permission is not permanent however and it expires on June 30th next year. It is also not restriction-free and is susceptible to various limitations such as the number of plants and security measures. Michael couldn’t start the farming process without setting up a special room for the crop. His case is truly revolutionary for it is the first time a German citizen has been granted such permission.
It is crucial to point out that medicinal cannabis has been in use by german patients for years now. Individuals suffering from different forms of cancer, depression, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, MS, arthritis, hepatitis C and even asthma can take advantage of such therapy. There are now over 900 individuals who have signed up for this treatment. Obviously a special authorization process must be applied for each individual case to get access to such prescription. If granted, patients can purchase the medically tested drug from a selected number of pharmacies. These are also regulated by special institutions monitoring the quality and source of the medicinal produce. Of course, buying medical marijuana from other sources is illegal.
What is interesting is that after the case of Michael F, more than a hundred german citizens applied for the same right, yet none of them was given the same permission. The whole kerfuffle may soon be over, though, as the German Ministry of Health is planning to pass a regulation that will heavily subsidize cannabis users who wish to utilize it for medical purposes, thereby declaring the previous right to grow pot void.