German court allows patients to grow medical cannabis
Robert Gorter, MD, PhD is interviewed by VOX TV Germany on the medical use of cannabis
Dr. Robert Gorter made extensive clinical experience with the use of Cannabis in patients with various diseases and symptoms. In the 1970’s as a family practitioner in Amsterdam he observed that his patients with chronic pain (like degenerative joint disease, migraine, trigeminus neuralgia, phantom pain, spinal cord lesions, etc.) loss of appetite and severe weight loss, urine incontinence, and eczemas (dermatitis) responded very well to Cannabis in small quantities. Since smoking in general (also of Cannabis leaves and flowers) is carcinogenic, Robert Gorter recommended cannabis dissolved in hot (chocolate) milk or baked as brownies. Once at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Dr. Gorter was able to conduct clinical trials with THC (Marinol, Dronabinol) in HIV/AIDS patients and cancer patients.
Robert Gorter, MD, PhD: “It is still incomprehensible that medications that can kill a patient are widely prescribed by my colleagues but that Cannabis and its derivatives, which have no lethal dose, are taboo!” In the UK (and that will be not much different in other Western nations) 26% – 28% of all hospital admissions were necessary due to severe toxicity caused by the medications they received from their doctors.
A German court ruled for the first time on 22.07.2014 that seriously ill patients may grow their own marijuana for medical purposes in certain cases. The administrative court in the city of Cologne said that while cannabis remained illegal for general use in Germany, it may be cultivated at home by some patients with medical permits for the drug. The court decision in Cologne was a big step towards legalization of the medical use of Cannabis. Across the Dutch border, 60 km away from Cologne, Cannabis for its medical use was always available and prescribed by doctors.
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Review on clinical studies with cannabis and cannabinoids 2005-2009