It’s a rocky road and usually ends in disaster..
Business of Cannabis
Since the partial legalisation of cannabis in Germany, the industry has grown considerably, particularly in the medical sector.
While it was previously quite difficult for patients to obtain the desired medicine via an open-minded doctor using a BtM prescription, a normal prescription is now sufficient.
Since then, online telemedicine has spread at a blistering pace, and a whole host of specialised portals now focus exclusively on the natural medicine.
As the number of cannabis patients and associated treatments has risen sharply, critics of the new way of dealing with cannabis speak of abuse of the system by recreational users.
This has brought the industry into the crosshairs of politicians who are now considering tightening the rules again, potentially making access via online prescription much more difficult.
It is not yet clear how the new Federal Government Drugs Commissioner will react to the forthcoming results of an interim scientific report on the effects of legalisation, for example, but it is already clear that a change in the situation is being sought.
This would have an immense impact on many thousands of people who rely on the services offered by medical cannabis portals.
New data seen by Business of Cannabis from an online provider in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) lays bare the increasing demand, and just how many people are currently benefiting from this simplified online access.
60 per cent order because of their remote location
As the German health portal reports, there are clear differences in the living conditions of the customer base, at least in the case of the online provider GreenMedical.
For example, 60% of its customers say they use digital healthcare and the easily available ordering options due to the lack of physical access options available where they live.
If this form of care did not exist, residents in rural areas would often have to accept long journeys and a poor supply situation, negating the benfits of the treatment.
Since the platform was founded, 17,493 adults in North Rhine-Westphalia alone have taken advantage of treatment via the portal, which shows how popular such services currently are. This puts NRW in second place in Germany in terms of digital cannabis treatments.
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