The consultations on medical hemp have begun

The first hurdle has been cleared: The commission of the National Council has approved the amendment to the law for easier access to cannabis medicines. The opposition is not great, but the relaxations for medicinal hemp are also not exactly spectacular.

The Committee for Social Security and Health of the National Council (SGK-N) was the first committee to discuss the facilitation of cannabis medicines in October 2020 and approved this amendment to the NarcA very clearly with 22:3.

Essentially, it followed the draft of the Federal Council. But the commission requested that further data be collected. In the first few years after this amendment comes into force, physicians who prescribe THC-rich products must collect various data and forward them for evaluation. Here, the commission would like any side effects to be reported in particular.

In essence, the idea is that exceptional licenses from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) would no longer be necessary, but that medicinal hemp could go through the Swissmedic control system. This would give doctors greater leeway in the treatment of THC-rich medicines.

However, there would be no possibility for sick people to cultivate and the health insurance companies would still not have to reimburse such medicines. Thus, this amendment, if finally passed by parliament, will probably only allow affordable medical hemp for a few sick people and will therefore only be effective to a limited extent.

⇒ We have a more detailed assessment of the bill in Legalize it! 88 on pages 4-5.

Next, the business comes to the National Council (planned for this discussion is December 8, 2020, for which there are some minority motions). This will be followed by the Committee of the Council of States (SGK-S) and finally the Council of States. If necessary, there will then be a procedure for resolving differences.