Dutch health minister Ernst Kuipers wants to increase production and export of medical cannabis and to broaden the legal possibilities to do so. This is made clear by the minister in a letter to the House of Representatives, in which he states that he wants to advance the medical cannabis sector and that this requires policy expansion and ultimately an amendment to the Opium Act.
Great demand for Dutch medical cannabis
Medical cannabis produced in The Netherlands is highly regarded worldwide. Domestic and foreign demand is so great that not all requests can be met. Dutch medical cannabis products are in great demand because of their high quality and consistent composition, even after years. Therefore, Kuipers wants to lift the currently applying export ceiling and limitation of production capacity. Kuipers stresses that his projected changes only apply to medical cannabis and not to recreational cannabis, as currenlty available in Dutch coffeeshops.
Closed chain
Dutch medicinal cannabis is produced within a closed chain. In The Netherlands, the Bureau of Medicinal Cannabis (BMC) is responsible for the full supply of cannabis flowers to pharmaciesin The Netherlands and abroad and to wholesalers who supply these pharmacies. Kuipers wants to keep it that way, because (according to him) BMC supplies a reliable product with a consistent quality and composition, contrary to medical cannabis coming from other countries. BMC currently is unable to meet the high demand from abroad, because of the current production limitation and the export cap. Kuipers wants to delete both in order to be able to export more and to give more possibilities for international cooperations, for example in the field of scientific research into medicinal cannabis.
Research
In addition to lifting production limitation and the export cap, minister Kuipers wants to make it easier to grow, process and/or trade medicinal cannabis if it contributes to scientific research into the medical application of cannabis. Currently, this is only possible if an opium exemption has been granted by BMC, but that only happens rarely.
Health care insurance
Kuipers also points out that medicinal cannabis is currently not included in the basic health care insurance package, because the National Health Care Institute has indicated that there is insufficient evidence for its effectiveness. But, according to Kuipers, this could change when outcomes of new studies into the therapeutic effect of medicinal cannabis provide extra insights. Kuipers has therefore ordered more studies that may provide evidence of efficacy, such as a study into the effect of medicinal cannabis in children with treatment-resistant epilepsy and a study into the effect of medicinal cannabis on (neuropathic) pain.