The Hague, the Netherlands: Pharmacies may now legally stock and supply medicinal cannabis for patients who have a doctor’s prescription, as a result of new federal regulations that went into effect Monday. The law change makes the Netherlands the first nation to formally regulate the use of medicinal marijuana in the same manner as it does other prescription drugs.
NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre applauded the policy change. “If we are to hold cannabis up to the same standards of safety and efficacy that we hold other drugs, then the Dutch government’s decision to regulate it is long overdue,” he said. “Unfortunately in the US, our government refuses to acknowledge marijuana’s relative safety or medical utility thus forcing patients to go to the black market and risk arrest to obtain the medicine they need. Clearly, the Dutch model is a safer, efficient and more compassionate alternative.”
Under the new law, Dutch health officials will license medicinal marijuana cultivators to supply medical-grade cannabis to pharmacies. Licensing will be overseen by the Netherlands’ Office of Medicinal Cannabis (BMC) of the Health Ministry and may begin as early as next month. The BMC was established in 2000 to study and regulate the use of medical marijuana.
The new regulations also allow Dutch health insurance companies to reimburse patients’ cost for medical marijuana.
Dutch Ministry of Health spokesman Bas Kuik told the Associated Press that the legal change would ensure that patients have consistent access to medicinal quality cannabis. “Doctors are prescribing marijuana to their patients anyway, and there are many medicinal users, so we may as well regulate it,” he said.
Similar regulations enacted in Canada in 2001 allow for the state to distribute medical marijuana to qualified patients, but to date Health Canada has not allowed any of its harvested cannabis to be available to the public.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of the NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.