28 Nov '14
Health minister wants sale of medicinal marijuana at chemist
Summary
Federal health minister Maggie De Block is working on a decree to expand the profile of patients in Belgium allowed to use medicinal marijuana
Should Belgium allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana freely and allow chemists to sell it?
Too-limited use
The federal minister of health, Maggie De Block, is working on a decree that would enable the sale of medicinal marijuana in chemists across the country. Currently, the only cannabinoid medicine available in Belgium is Sativex, which is only prescribed to patients with muscle spasticity due to multiple sclerosis.
The use of cannabis to relieve nausea associated with chemotherapy and to treat pain and muscle spasticity is only allowed in Belgium as part of scientific studies. The new decree would open it up to prescription by doctors.
Patients with, for example, cancer, neuropathic pain or paraplegia who want to use medicinal cannabis are at present not included in the Sativex target group.
