Supreme Administrative Court Of Munster

The Supreme Administrative Court of Munster has ruled that under strict conditions severely ill Germans will be allowed to grow cannabis at home.

Meanwhile, Britain becomes more isolated and its drugs policy looks more ridiculous every day.

David Cameron and Theresa May maintain a deeply cruel and unjust policy on medicinal cannabis while simultaneously promoting an unlawful and corrupt licensing scheme with GW Pharmaceuticals.

Cannabis is a schedule 1 drug with “no medicinal value” under the terms of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.  However, GW Pharma has been granted a licence to grow many tons of cannabis every year for medicine at its premises in Porton Down, Wiltshire and the Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne.

GW’s licence is unlawful because the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 permits the Home Secretary to grant licences only “for special purposes such as research”.  It is clear that the legislation was drafted specifically to exclude the sort of commercial exploitation that GW is engaged in.

GW’s business is also unlawful under the UN Single Convention 1961 which prohibits the trafficking of cannabis across international borders.  GW exports Sativex, its cannabis medicine, all over the world with impunity.

Cameron, May, the Home Office, GW Pharma and others are engaged in a conspiracy to deceive about the fact that Sativex is cannabis and to evade both international and domestic law.  The story is that Sativex is an extract of THC and CBD but this is false.  It is pharmacologically identical to the cannabis plants from which it is made.

A judicial review of this cruel, corrupt and dishonest policy cannot be far away.  Either that or a medicinal user convicted for cultivation or production will take an appeal to the Supreme Court and see these lies exposed.  Cameron and May will probably escape under the cloak of parliamentary privilege but their co-conspirators, the directors of GW, the MHRA and others, should properly face criminal prosecution.

Dr Franjo Grotenhermen

A better solution would be to revise policy on the basis of honesty and science and to follow the example set by Germany.

Dr Franjo Grotenhermen, director of the International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines (IACM) issued this statement:

“Under strict conditions severely ill Germans may be allowed to grow cannabis at home, the Supreme Administrative Court of Munster said in a judgment of 7 December 2012. The reasons have now been published. Patients for whom no other therapies are available or effective, but may have medicinal benefit from cannabis, can make an application to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) in Bonn, so that they can treat themselves with their own grown cannabis, accompanied and monitored by their doctor. Previously, all such requests were refused by directive of the Federal Ministry of Health. This practice is illegal, the court stated.

“This ruling is a milestone on the path to a better supply of German citizens with cannabis-based medicines,” said Franjo Grotenhermen, chairman of the German Association for Cannabis as Medicine. “Cannabis products from the pharmacy are unaffordable for most patients. Legalized growing of the plant at home opens up for them for the first time an affordable alternative.” Health insurance companies usually refuse to reimburse the costs of a treatment with cannabinoid medicines. “It is unbearable that many patients have to rely on illegal sources or illegal self-cultivation of their medical need,” Grotenhermen said.

Patients whose health insurances cover the costs of a treatment with cannabinoid-based medications, however do not get a permit for self-cultivation the court made clear. In the particular case of a plaintiff suffering from multiple sclerosis the judges ruled in favour of the Federal Republic of Germany, which had denied him an approval for self-cultivation. The plaintiff had not been able to convince the court that the cannabinoid dronabinol, which is reimbursed by his health insurance, has not the same medical effect as cannabis cultivated by himself.

The arguments of the BfArM for a general denial of approvals for self-cultivation by patients were completely rejected by the court, however. The ruling clarifies: “If an affordable treatment option is missing, a license for personal cultivation of cannabis has to be taken into consideration – at the discretion of the BfArM.” The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices could not require applicants for self-cultivation that strict safeguards against theft, as are required from pharmaceutical companies. The provisions of the Narcotics Act as well as the international drug control treaties would have to be interpreted in a way that the granting of permission to private individuals is possible.

The attorney for the plaintiff, Dr. Oliver Tolmein from Hamburg said that lawmakers are required to act after this decision: “If the Ministry of Health does not want patients to grow cannabis for self-therapy, is has to be made absolutely clear in the law on health insurances that they have to reimburse the cost of cannabinoid-containing medicines or medicinal cannabis for otherwise untreatable patients.”

A medically supervised treatment with cannabis or single cannabinoids in Germany is currently possible in two different ways: first, dronabinol, the synthetic THC derivative nabilone and the cannabis extract Sativex may be prescribed. Secondly, the medical use of herbal cannabis from the pharmacy imported from the Netherlands is possible. This however, requires a special permit from the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices.

The ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court has not yet become final. Before the Administrative Court of Cologne more complaints by seriously ill patients, to whom the Federal Ministry of Health denied permission to grow their own cannabis, are pending.

Judgment of 7 December 2012, OVG NRW 13 A 414/11.

For inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact:

Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen, Association for Cannabis as Medicine (ACM), Phone: +49-2952-9708572, Email: info@cannabis-med.org.

Dr. Oliver Tolmein, Phone: +49-176-21813000 or +49-40-600094700.”

Germany Permits Medicinal Users To Grow Cannabis. UK Maintains Cruel And Corrupt Policy. - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

This may come as no surprise to those who already recognise the corrupt and unlawful relationship between the Home Office and GW Pharmaceuticals.

You can track this FOI request and review all correspondence here.

These are the Home Office’s reasons:

I have concluded that disclosing the information could damage the commercial interests of the GW Pharmaceuticals and also make them potential targets of criminal activity.

Releasing the information you have requested would not be in the public interest and I have, therefore, decided to withhold the requested information. The potential harm which would likely be caused to the company if the information were to be disclosed outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

This is my email requesting an internal review.

Dear Home Office,

I am writing to request an internal review of Home Office’s handling of my FOI request ‘Details of GW Pharmaceuticals licence for production of cannabis’.

This request is refused on two grounds

1. It may damage GW Pharma’s commercial interests.

This is an absurd excuse.  GW has already been granted what is almost certainly an unlawful monopoly.  The relationship between the Home Office and GW is self-evidently corrupt and improper.  How does this square with the anti-monopoly provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002? What opportunities exist for other businesses to grow cannabis for medicine?  This licence is issued by a public authority and its terms and conditions (redacted in part if necessary) should be freely available to public scrutiny.

2. It may make GW potential targets of criminal activity.

Again, an absurd excuse.  The location of GW’s facilities are already public knowledge – at it’s headquarters in Porton Down, Wiltshire and at the Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne.

This is nothing but an excuse to prevent public scrutiny and amounts to an unlawful breach of the FOI Act 2000.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Reynolds

I will not acquiesce to this disgraceful and improper conduct by the Home Office.  There are many routes open to challenge this and you can be certain that I will pursue them to the very end.

It is interesting that the US government, which maintains the same dishonest and corrupt position that cannabis has “no medicinal value” is about to issue an exclusive licence to Kannalife for the “development and sale of cannabinoid(s) and cannabidiol(s) based therapeutics as antioxidants and neuroprotectants for use and delivery in humans. ”

Home Office Refuses FOI Request Concerning GW Pharma’s Cannabis Licence - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party