In patient Greek style, with seven years of delays, Greece has finally legalized medical grade cannabis. Zorba would be proud. Patients will get licenses in situations where medical cannabis has proven to be effective in areas such as relief from chemotherapy, therapy against HIV or hepatitis C, chronic pain, MS and in palliative care to help with appetite.
The Greek market is expected to be about $330 million USD, and will be a good place for new grow ops to start operations. The first medical grade cannabis plant opened in January at Examilia, in Corinth under an investment from Tikun Europe, a subsidiary of Tikun Olam from Israel.
“A new era is beginning for our country with the operation of our Tikun Europe facility, paving the way for Greece to become one of the main players in the field of production and export of medical cannabis products,” said Greek Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis who said Greek patients will benefit from these products, despite cannabis “having a difficult history due to its nature as a narcotic.”
The Greek facility aims to be an export hub to all of Europe, reviving Greek’s agriculture industry. But also the Pharma business.
Pharmaceutical manufacturing is one of Greece’s main industrial sectors, comprising dozens of local and foreign companies and accounting for roughly 10% of employment. The country exports around €3 billion worth of medicines a year to some 140 countries, making it Greece’s second-largest export sector. Much of the global supply of antibiotics, and medicines for treating cholesterol and diabetes, are produced in Greece.
Several international drug companies – like Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim – have invested heavily in their Greek production facilities with an eye to exporting more. Overall, approximately €1.2 billion is now being invested in a dozen new production units and 18 new research centers that are expected to further boost production and exports.
The development of a plant focusing on medical cannabis represents a major investment in what is expected to be a growing market worldwide. Two other such production facilities, by investors from Europe and North America, are also planned at different locations in Greece.
Greece had already inaugurated its first ever production facility for medical cannabis − the largest such facility in Europe − and the latest in a string investments that are boosting the country’s position as a leading exporter of pharmaceutical products to the world.
The specialist doctors able to prescribe cannabis in Greece include medical cannabis include anaesthetists, neurologists, and pathologists specializing in cancer, infections, and rheumatism.
Treatments for medical cannabis will not yet fall under state insurance, so high costs of $90.03 for 5-grams (0.17 ounces) might just lead people to obtain it through illegal channels. Lavipharm and Pharmaserve-Lilly will be dispensing the cannabis.
Anna Paga, a 60-year-old mother of three with psoriatic arthritis told the Athens Macedonian News Agency: “What can I say about this day? A very big thank you, relief, vindication, freedom to live. I was among the first to get the prescription via the electronic prescription system and I didn’t expect it, I couldn’t believe it. I burst into tears … an end to the risks and fear.”
Greek patient advocacy group Mamaka says it will still fight for the right for people to cultivate at home for personal use.
Medical cannabis has changed lives around the world. Green Prophet interviewed Dr. Alan Shackelford, the Israeli-American doctor who prescribed cannabis to a child, Charlotte Figi, saving her from hundreds of epileptic seizures every week. He was the first in America to do this through legal channels.
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