Access to safe medicinal cannabis. The patients

More and more countries in the world are changing the regulation and providing safe access to medicinal cannabis to patients who need its consumption for a better quality of life.

Numerous studies indicate that medicinal cannabis has promising results in treating a wide range of conditions. It is an endocannabinoid system modulator with a safe and effective anti-inflammatory profile. However, the approved derivative drugs are reduced to a few conditions. One of them is Epidiolex, prescribed for the treatment of rare epilepsies (Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or Dravet syndrome).

However, the chronic pain is the most frequently cited reason for prescribing medicinal cannabis, affecting 1 in 3 people. This pain is defined as a pain that occurs most days for at least six months, with an average population between 54 and 58 years old in Europe, followed by conditions such as spasticity in countries like Germany or Denmark or anxiety in the case of the United Kingdom.

The cannabis industry in Europe faces a major challenge to be able to provide quality product to the patients. In 2020 alone, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it is estimated that around 60,000 patients have received treatment with products derived from medicinal cannabis for the first time.

While countries such as France, Portugal, Italy or Germany have already carried out some program of access for medical use of medicinal cannabis, under medical supervision, in Spain there have been no movements in terms of its regulation.

Recently the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, pointed out that the Government is aware of the debate generated around this issue, but that nevertheless “scientific evidence and technical rigor prevail“. Thus it was announced that “there will not be a regulation until it is shown that it is beneficial for patients ” and noted that two available cannabis-based medicines (Sativex and Epidiolex) are already on the market.

Meanwhile, patients advocate a safe and equal access to medicinal cannabis that other patients in Europe can have, recalling that if a German patient can have a safe access to a medicinal cannabis derivative to alleviate his pain, they do not understand why they cannot have it, even when Spain is one of the main producers of medicinal cannabis in Europe.

A recent study by Prohibition Partners indicates that, if the medicinal use of cannabis were to be regularized next year in Spain, a turnover of more than 60 million  euros would be generated in 2025, with a production of more than 1,700 kilos of flower to treat more than 30,000 patients in a year.