(highlights by me)
The following is an excerpt from an article entitled
by Pete Brady, story and photos (29 Jun, 2001)Europe's pot progression
Last year, American medical pot expert Dr Tod Mikuriya told me he'd met a Dutch official who intended to head an official Office of Medical Cannabis.
Willem Scholten confirmed Mikuriya's tip in late December; I spoke to him in The Hague a few weeks later.
"The United Nations International Narcotics Control Board in 1998 requested member states to provide worthy research on this subject," Scholten explained. "The Office of Medical Cannabis will determine whether cannabis can be used medically and for what conditions. We will supervise clinical studies, and if the studies yield positive results, we should ensure an adequate supply of licensed pharmaceutical cannabis products. The Office will act as a regulator for cannabis horticulture, cannabis resin and related substances for clinical trials. Private companies will be in charge of manufacturing medical cannabis products. We will stimulate high quality trials that can be done with several dosage forms of varying composition for multiple indications.
"We are guided by a scientific advisory board," continued Scholten. "The board members are health care inspectors specialized in clinical trials and narcotics, a neurologist, a pharmacognosist, a lawyer and representatives of the Multiple Sclerosis Patients Association and the HIV Patients Association." (Scholten said a "pharmacognosist" is a pharmacologist who specializes in herbal medicines.)
Dutch marijuana growers enthusiastically welcomed the announcement of Scholten's new agency, hoping they would be able to sell pot to the government instead of just to coffeeshops.
"We'll order cannabis from private growers," Scholten said. "The Office will have the sole responsibility for importing, exporting, selling and storing cannabis, cannabis resin and their preparations. It will also be the licensing authority for these substances. Dutch law requires licenses of those who grow cannabis. Our Office will give these licenses to growers who have contracts with the Office. Growers will be screened before they are contracted. The contract conditions will require that contractors sell their entire crops to the government. Medicinal cannabis must be organically grown, free of contaminants, and properly processed. Growers will be subject to grow room inspections, quality controls, and will be required to sell their entire crop to our agency. The need for medicinal cannabis depends on the number and size of the clinical trials that will be done. We don't expect that a large amount of cannabis will be needed in the next few years."
Would-be government pot growers also face other hurdles.
Scholten's office will closely scrutinize anyone who wants to grow government herb. Growers must provide an analysis of the cannabinoid profile of their crops. They have to document cultivation techniques and inputs, and prove they can grow identical crops with consistently similar cannabinoid profiles. And if the grower has been involved in the illegal drug trade, Scholten's office will turn down their application to grow mediwiet.
Holland's socialized medical system provides drugs free of charge or at reduced rates, but Scholten acknowledged that in the short term, his new office's activities would not result in insurance-compensated medical cannabis.
"There is insufficient evidence that cannabis is medically effective, and there is no standardized cannabis medicine that meets pharmaceutical standards," he said. "We will research the development of medical raw cannabis or a cannabis preparation with a standardized cannabinoid content, thus enabling the patient to trust that the action is always the same, given a certain dose. Our task is to develop a preparation that meets all pharmaceutical standards. Our program aims to do so in several years. After licensing as a medicine, reimbursement should be subject to the same rules as the reimbursement of other medicines."
Scholten insisted that I make it clear that his government views medical cannabis as completely different from recreational cannabis. He believes that medical cannabis users should not be "stigmatized" by inadvertent media association of medical cannabis with coffeeshops and the generic recreational marijuana subculture.
His ministry even objects to terminology such as "mediwiet," and "medical pot," preferring to describe the healing plant as "medical cannabis or hemp."
end of excerpt
here's a link related to the subject. my reaction is just,,,,, wow! http://www.medicalmarijuana.org/