“In Germany right now the federal government is working on a plan right now to allow domestic cultivation of cannabis. According to the early draft, it is not approved yet, it calls for the health insurers to cover the cost of the medical cannabis in certain cases. Not for everyone, but in certain cases they would do it. In Canada, it has not happened yet but it is being discussed. Also in the Czech Republic when it’s available, and the information right now is that there is no cannabis available anywhere in the pharmacies right now…”

I just want to stop you there. In theory right now medical cannabis should be available in the Czech Republic, there was a law passed…

“Correct, correct, it should be. The issue is that in Europe there is only one provider based in the Netherlands called Bedrocan. They have been doing it for many years and have a lot of clients around Europe but they have limited capacity and so there is a bottleneck. In the Czech Republic, there have been a few importers importing it, but Bedrocan can only produce so much for the whole of Europe. So in the Czech Republic there is now a company called Elkoplast Slušovice which is producing it. It is actually people from the Netherlands that are providing the technology and are growing it for Elkoplast. Hopefully that will take some of the pressure off the local system but they are only growing one type of cannabis which is a high THC with very low CBD, which Cannabodial. That is very good for anti-inflammatory effects and is especially good for people with multiple sclerosis, And people here with ms in the Czech Republic are frustrated that a type of cannabis that would address their condition is not being cultivated.

“There is basically a lack of supply in Europe and what is being grown is very narrow in scope. There are only a few varieties and no insurers are covering it yet. The European model is very limited for now. We hope we will see more competition to encourage innovation and also only the competitive market will allow companies to fund clinical research which is really lacking.”

I will come to that in a minute, but as regards the current costs, okay there is a supply problem in Europe, but I also read that if you are buying it out of your own pocket the costs are quite high in Europe?

 In Europe there are 100 percent mark-ups which put it out of reach of even affluent populations
“The wholesale costs in Europe are on a par with Canada and Israel. The problem is that in Europe the medicinal cannabis goes through the pharmaceutical distribution system. That means that it has to get bought by a wholesaler, then it has to get distributed by a licensed pharmaceutical distributor, and it has to be stored in certain facilities that are normally being used to store opiates, narcotics. Then it goes to the regular pharmacy where the pharmacist has a mark-up. In some cases, in Germany or Italy, the mark-up is 100 percent. So in several cases along the way in Europe there are 100 percent mark-ups which put it out of reach of even affluent populations. So in the Czech Republic, where the average per capita income is below the EU average, it is a big problem.”

Do you see any way that that problem could be addressed?

“One simple way to address it is to have health insurers cover the cost and then the problem is solved. If the medicinal cannabis is actually replacing more expensive prescription drugs, then the insurers will actually see some benefit. But to date there has been a lot of confusion about the issue, not actually the efficacy of the cannabis but the issue about the legislation about its use and covering it, if a company is putting itself in jeopardy by enabling it. So if the health insurers would actually step up to the plate, they would resolve this problem overnight.”


You mentioned the research issue and there is, if understand right, quite a lot of research going into what the exact benefits of cannabinoids are. How much is there an actual obstacle to research? The fact that people are not sure, there are some signs it does this and that, but they are not sure of the actual basics?

“There has been a lot of research into cannabis, cannabinoids and medicines over the last two decades. There is actually a lot more than people realise. But there is one problem that regulators or medical communities in one country tend to trust research that comes out of that country rather than a foreign country where they do not know the parameters. So while three has been a lot of research, there needs to be a lot more in given jurisdictions that are interested in using this substance. And there is one issue if you use herbal cannabis, which in Europe is sometimes called cannabis for therapeutic uses, it is sometimes hard to pinpoint directly what is being tested. There are dozens and dozens of cannabinoids. Of course the most useful ones are THC and CBD, but in herbal cannabis it is difficult to know what is being consumed at what rate. That’s why the next step in the evolution of medicinal cannabis is the use of extract products and that is now happening in Canada. Our company, Tilray, has begun producing and developing extract products and these are great for researchers because they have very specific cannabinoid profiles, specific potency. The dosage is exact…”

You know what you are getting…

 The next step in the evolution of medicinal cannabis is the use of extract products and that is now happening in Canada.
“You know what you are getting. The extract products could be in a capsule, could be in drops, spray or even in a suppository. This is the future for all research. For medical use, herbal cannabis will move into the sidelines and the extract products will move into the front and centre.”

And the market overall…this company Tilray is a serious company, it is a big money business. How do you see the market taking off? If this market develops properly will we see growth several fold in a few years with cannabis coming out of the sidelines and becoming a broadly used and acceptable drug?

“That is exactly our view of the situation. The question is how fast this transition will take place, the ramp up. The question is whether it will be in three years, five years, 10 years maybe? We are of the opinion that it will be sooner than later, simply because cannabis works and has a good safety profile. There are very few ill effects and negative effects are in a very small minority. We think that the potential use is very large. If you just look at the average number of people in populations suffering from chronic pain, it is huge. It is millions and millions of people. You can add all the conditions that are recognized for use just in the Czech Republic. It could really turn into a major part of the healthcare system especially with these extract products that I mentioned earlier because they have very specific dosage, they are very safe, and very effective. And this can really be the medicine of the future because it can be cultivated anywhere where it is legal, it can be processed, and the costs relative to pharmaceutical drugs is a lot more acceptable.”

And just the Czech Republic, at the end of last year there was news that a new institute was being created to look into the uses and development of medicinal cannabis. Is the Czech Republic up there with the pioneers in Europe in looking into the uses and develop the uses or are there still some problems locally?

 And there are these black markets, just for senior citizens

“We are moving in the right direction. The announcement last month of the institute is definitely great news and sends the right message that this is a serious topic that requires and warrants research. That is definitely moving in the right direction. There is widespread political support for this. When the medicinal cannabis law was enacted in April 2013, it had support from all of the parliamentary parties. There is support, the patients want it, but now they have to grow it themselves. I know personally some neighbors, grandparents, some lovely grandmothers, tell me how they and all their friends grow it. And there are these black markets, just for senior citizens. And unfortunately, due to some regulatory hurdles here, problems in the original law, and also the costs and limited amount of cultivation domestically, these things together continue to prevent the use of medical cannabis generally as it is envisioned by the people who created the law and the medical community and patients. But it can be overcome and the steps are happening and hopefully things will keep moving in the right direction.”

ARTICLE BY:
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/marketplace/medical-cannabis-market-shows-growing-pains

The Czech Republic’s drug policy was praised as a “great example of a successful liberal approach to drugs” during last month’s UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in New York City. But the actions of the National Anti-Drug Agency, the Czech equivalent of the DEA, toward the country’s cannabis community reveals a painful gap between cannabis theory and practice. 
The first sign that something was changing in the Czech Republic came in the summer of 2013, when police accused a journalist of “spreading and encouraging drug abuse.” Why? He made an innocent joke about the improvement of sight after smoking a joint. It did not come to a trial, because the jurisdictional district court judge refused to open such a case.

A few months later the cannabis community was shaken by the “Black Day.” On Nov. 4, 2013, hundreds of police stormed dozens of the hundred-plus growshops spread across the country. The biggest such raid in Czech history was masterminded by Col. Jakub Frydrych, head of the National Anti-Drug Agency. Frydrych, a hardcore, Harry Anslinger-type drug warrior, decided that the vague language in Czech law against “spreading and encouraging drug abuse” gave his agency the right to destroy legitimate businesses that had been legally operating for up to fifteen years.

Mainstream media, members of the public and a majority of Czech drug experts condemned the raids as unnecessary, costly, useless and even illegal. The government's top drug-policy adviser, Dr. Tomas Zabransky, told online newspaper Idnes.cz that “growshops selling growing equipment and cannabis seeds operate all around Western Europe, Canada, and the U.S., because that's how democracy works. … This kind of police action is actually helping the black market.” 
The raids led to a series of trials against growshop owners. To the surprise of many, all were found guilty. The judges sided with the police and considered “selling pots, lamps, rolling papers and books about cooking with cannabis under one roof” a crime. 
Nobody was sent to jail, though. The owners lost all confiscated goods, but got off on probation — provided they pleaded guilty. A few brave owners refused the plea bargain, and one eventually won his trial. Prague District Judge Helena Chaloupkova heavily criticized the police in this case for “acting cowardly and inconsistently,” and stated that “the owners did not encourage cannabis use” by selling the above-mentioned goods.

But the story does not end there. Last week, in an unprecedented move, the Czech Republic’s highest district attorney, Pavel Zeman, intervened. He asked for the case to be reopened, because in his opinion, the owners were indeed spreading drug abuse. Zeman’s statement was riddled with Reefer Madness cliches.
The growshop raids aren't the only examples of police hostility toward the cannabis community in the Czech Republic. In the fall of 2015, a group of legal-hemp harvesters were beaten and jailed. The “accident” gained international attention for its absurdity: Young police officers from a little town some 100 miles north of Prague were bored and decided to check legally approved fields of hemp that was properly registered with customs and contained no THC.

More repression came this May at the annual Konopex cannabis trade fair in Ostrava. Local police concluded that the hemp farmers and hemp clothes producers posed a threat to public safety and staged dozens of heavily armed officers around the exhibition grounds and the after-party club. Police harassed visitors with time-consuming searches, and they confiscated bongs, roaches and industrial hemp plants. Leopold Svaty, one of the country's most prominent hemp producers, told Leafly: “Although I presented all necessary paperwork and documents proving my hemp and hemp products are 100 percent legal, the police confiscated everything, simply to prevent me from exhibiting at the fair and to damage my business.”

So what are the results of the growshop raids and other police actions directed against the Czech cannabis community? “The number of growshops went down temporarily, but it's on the rise again,” says Robert Veverka, director of NGO Legalizace.cz and editor of Legalizace magazine. “Many owners basically split their companies into more than one, so one only sells pots and lamps, the other just seeds, and a third one sells smoking accessories and cannabis literature. By not offering everything under one roof, they hope to avoid police accusations of ‘encouraging drug abuse.’ Legitimate businesses selling stuff that's freely available all over Europe have been destroyed, dozens of people lost their jobs, growshop owners lost millions worth of legal goods. Hundreds of millions of taxpayers money have been wasted during these maneuvers and the same can be said of the human resources of the police and justice system.”
The rate of cannabis use and production has not gone down in the Czech Republic since the raids. What has been going down, rapidly, is respect for the police within the cannabis community. As Albert Einstein pointed out in 1921, regarding the prohibition of alcohol: “The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.”

Scientific inquiry into marijuana received a big boost this week, courtesy of a new partnership between American and Czech stakeholders.

A coalition of activists, politicians, scientists and businesses announced the establishment of a new research center, the International Cannabis and Cannabinoid Institute (ICCI), which will be based in the Czech Republic. And what the center produces could have major benefits for medical cannabis businesses all over the globe.

“The main work of the ICCI is to provide scientific instruments to public and private institutions all over the world,” CEO Pavel Kubu said in a statement.
Backers of the ICCI include Americans for Safe Access, the Czech patient advocacy group KOPAC , the New York-based cannabis investment firm Dioscorides Global Holdings, and multiple universities and high-tech companies.

The Czech Republic’s Health Minister, Svatopluk Nemecek, joined the group for a public announcement, which provided the institute with a defacto stamp of approval from the government.
Medical marijuana has been legal in the Czech Republic since 2013.

At the moment, it’s easier to go outside and buy weed than it is to find the definitive number of people currently incarcerated on narcotics offenses, which tells you all you need to know about the efficiency of the U.S. prison system versus that of the drug trade. But if you dig, you can find some information. According to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 208,000 people nationwide are serving time in state prisons for nonviolent drug charges. Toss in those held in federal prison, and that figure jumps to 303,000, or roughly the population of Pittsburgh.
Yes, some of those include offenders caught trafficking coke or selling heroin, which many would agree is empirically bad for society. But subtract those prisoners, and there are still 40,000 people in prison for drug possession. Maybe some of them had meth in a school zone, or something else that’s hard to justify, but what about marijuana, a plant that’s legal in some capacity in 40 states? The most recent stats show 11,000 people incarcerated on charges related to weed, with an average sentence of over seven years each. You can probably guess which demographic bears the brunt of those convictions. Hint: It isn’t upper middle class white boys caught vaping at a Phish concert. Using data from 2010, the ACLU found that, despite similar rates of use, black people were nearly four times more likely to be arrested on a marijuana-related charge than white people.
The call for reform to right some of those wrongs—or at least prevent future wrongs from happening—has gained some momentum. In October 2015, the Justice Department released 6,000 federal prisoners convicted on nonviolent drug charges. This followed action taken by President Obama that resulted in a comparatively paltry, but hey-still-something 89 inmates set free. Despite that progress here at home, the real front lines of achievable drug reform might actually be half a world away from the U.S., in a laboratory in Prague, where a team of devoted experts is studying the power of weed.
“The next revolution in cannabis is in science,” says Ben Bronfman. He’s not a scientist; he’s musician—a founding member of the now-disbanded group The Exit and the currently-still-banded T∑∆CH∑RS—and a Grammy nominee for his work co-producing Kanye West’s “New Slaves.” He’s a board member at Pioneer Works, the art space in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and a co-founder of Global Thermostat, a company that removes CO2 from the atmosphere. He’s the 33-year-old father of a seven-year-old son with rapper/activist M.I.A., and is himself the son of Sherry Brewer, an actress who appeared in Shaft, and Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the billionaire former CEO of Warner Music Group and heir to the Seagram’s fortune.
But right now, he’s focused on his newest role, as director of business development for the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute (ICCI) in the Czech Republic.

Left to right: ICCI CEO Pavel Kubů, Ben Bronfman, and Steph Sherer at a press event announcing the launch of ICCI in December 2015. / Image via ICCI“The war on drugs and the kids that are in jail—it’s a tragedy,” Bronfman says. “And not being able to do research is a tragedy because this is a phenomenal, phenomenal plant.” Bronfman is referencing the precarious nature of marijuana research in the United States, where the drug remains illegal at the federal level. Liberal Czech marijuana laws are part of the reason why ICCI chose set up shop in Prague. In Bronfman’s mind, the research that ICCI is doing on cannabis to unlock its many medicinal benefits is a necessary to step toward the federal legalization of marijuana in the U.S. That, in turn, will result in fewer young people arrested and convicted on nonviolent drug charges that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
“When I first got involved in medical marijuana, it was because I was so pissed off about the drug war, and I knew that pot couldn’t kill you,” he says. “All these people are getting locked up, and people own prisons, and prisons are listed on stock exchanges. They’re incentivized to build volume, and then they lobby their state legislators and congressmen to make the drug laws harsher. It drives me nuts.”
Rather than pontificate from his basement recording studio, Ben went out and started poking around weed dispensaries in California to learn more about how they functioned. From there, he connected with Steph Sherer, a medical marijuana patient who founded Americans for Safe Access, a nonprofit that advocates for therapeutic cannabis use and research. Bronfman was enamored with Sherer’s no-B.S. tactics and joined the ASA board in 2011.
“She wasn’t talking about grandiose drug policy,” Bronfman says. “She was like, ‘We’re gonna take ten 70-year-old white ladies to our Republican congressman and explain to him that they need this plant for their cancer and their pain.’ So, I was like, ‘I’m gonna rock with her.’”

Left to right: ICCI chief scientist Tomáš Zábranský, ICCI CEO Pavel Kubů, Ben Bronfman, Czech Minister of Health Svatopluk Nemecek (hidden), Steph Sherer, and chemist Lumír Hanuš at a press event announcing the launch of ICCI in December 2015. / Image via ICCISherer, who serves as the director of innovations at ICCI, has worked with other patient advocates to help shape marijuana legislation in countries from Jamaica to Poland, and was consulting on a sister organization to ASA in the Czech Republic when she and Bronfman seized an opportunity there. In 2008, the Czech Republic decriminalized cannabis. With that legislation working in her favor, Sherer helped pass a law in 2012 that made cannabis distribution through the Czech pharmacy system legal, paving the way for the creation of ICCI with the cooperation of the Czech government and researchers at Charles University. ICCI officially opened in December 2015.
ICCI focuses on what Bronfman refers to as “whole plant research”—looking at marijuana as it exists naturally, as opposed to working with synthetic extracts. ICCI touches upon everything from building a strain library to patent development—all tools that support the potency of medicinal marijuana and methods that can eventually be replicated in the States. Bronfman says the research team has already made some scientific discoveries, which ICCI will announce soon.

“We’re the only ones really focusing on how to get a bunch of research done in a professional way,” Ben says. “We’re designing clinical trials. It’s kind of funny, because I don’t have a fucking background in designing clinical trials.” But, he does have access to cash and people with it, and extensive fundraising experience.

“There’s been millions and millions of dollars spent on looking for the harms of cannabis and very low funding on looking at the benefits,” Sherer says. Research and efforts toward shifting policy require a staggering budget. “We’re talking about the need for $50 million, $100 million.”
Enter Dioscorides Global Holdings, the investment firm Bronfman co-founded that’s focused on medical cannabis product research and development. DGH provided early funding for ICCI and was listed as a partner in the launch. Bronfman is also a recognizable name who lends ICCI some credibility in the business world. “In general, I think the people that know me know how hard I work, and in the context of business, it only helps,” he says.
Sherer concurs: “Entrepreneurs have always played a role in investing in science, and those discoveries have a benefit for society at large.”
As ICCI continues to find its footing, it’s natural for Ben to think about how quickly its research can feasibly affect policy in the United States. “We'll see—the next President and where it is on their hierarchy of importance,” he says. But, he isn’t slowing down. “Everything I go after is what keeps me up at night,” he sighs. “It’s tough, man, because I just want to make music all day. But I’m involved with these projects—and they’re bigger than me.”

Our friends over at leafly.com finally turned their attention over to the prague smoking scene earlier this month with some interesting observations.

One striking statement that I liked was the following;

'There are plenty of misconceptions about cannabis laws in European countries. The Czech Republic is a striking example: most foreign visitors think cannabis is legal in this small country in the heart of Europe. But alas, it is not, at least not in the way most international media report.'

Yes......its NOT! 

Here is a repost of their articile with its interesting points. 
Myth #1: You Can Smoke Cannabis in Public in the Czech Republic
While it is possible to smoke cannabis freely outdoors, and thousands regularly do, this activity is illegal. Of course, you can do it, but don’t get caught by police. If you get caught, the police officer will most likely just give you a fine. However, the officer can also search you for more drugs. Having more than 10 grams (0.35 oz) of dried buds on you is considered a crime, not an offense, which means you can face criminal charges.
The popularity of smoking cannabis in public is testament to the rebellious soul of the Czechs, who have gotten used to ignoring and despising police and state authorities in general from 40 years of oppressive communist rule. Especially in the countryside, local policemen either do not recognize the smell of burning cannabis or, in most cases, do not care to intervene, if only because they know that every second granny in their village grows a few plants and makes creams and tinctures for sick members of the local community.

If you decide to light up outdoors in the Czech Republic, be discreet enough to avoid direct contact with police (don’t blow smoke in their faces) and you should do fine. (NOTE: Leafly strongly recommends you follow local laws -- don't gamble on a police officer's good nature, as that's not a bet you'd want to lose.)

It's true that there are many places, bars, pubs, and clubs where you can buy various high THC strains in the Czech capital, and of course the ever popular facebook group offers some help. but none of these businesses are or ever were operating legally. Prague does boast a lot of coffeeshops, but they definitely don't sell cannabis, just coffee and muffins. Selling any cannabis product containing over 0.3 % THC is simply illegal.

According to Czech legislature, medical cannabis has been technically legal for three years now. Most international media keep reminding us of how progressive the Czechs are in this respect. But the sad and bitter reality is that even today cannabis is practically unavailable to patients. It's not covered by medical insurance, very few doctors are knowledgeable in this area, and the ones who are must be willing to go through a very complicated bureaucratic process to be able to prescribe it. There's currently just one “super THC strong” strain available and no CBD-rich strains whatsoever. On top of all this, patients under 18 are not allowed to use any medical cannabis products. Maybe because the lawmakers think that children do not get sick? Of course,

Because I thought it had some quite interesting points. Not all correct; I would not be seen going to bars and getting busted for trying to buy weed.  I already told you why bartenders would not sell weed to tourists anymore. 

so have a great weekend!

So it would seem that Medical cannabis is finally coming to Czech republic after all. 

MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: MXC) has relisted on the Australian Securities Exchange and will move ahead with a $5 million planned capital raising after the ASX confirmed that MGC’s acquisition of a European medical cannabis company does not constitute a change of nature or scale under Chapter 11 listing rules.

The funds will be used to expand MGC’s European operations and to acquire Panax Pharma s.r.o., a Czech-based company holding a medical cannabis breeding license with access to growing space in the Vukoz Research Institute of the Czech Ministry of the Environment.

Under the agreement, MGC Pharma will be issued 25% equity in Panax upfront, and a further 55% for funding the next year’s operational costs, up to a maximum of €700,000 to acquire total 80% equity of Panax.

Looks like the debate in parliament finally bore some fruit! A first for Czech politics perhaps :)

Of course, not everyone can get their fix of the green stuff, medical or not. So for now most people will have to rely on social networking or even directly contacting some people who are sympathetic to the plights of those needing medical marijuana. 


MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: MXC) has relisted on the Australian Securities Exchange and will move ahead with a $5 million planned capital raising after the ASX confirmed that MGC’s acquisition of a European medical cannabis company does not constitute a change of nature or scale under Chapter 11 listing rules.

The funds will be used to expand MGC’s European operations and to acquire Panax Pharma s.r.o., a Czech-based company holding a medical cannabis breeding license with access to growing space in the Vukoz Research Institute of the Czech Ministry of the Environment.

Under the agreement, MGC Pharma will be issued 25% equity in Panax upfront, and a further 55% for funding the next year’s operational costs, up to a maximum of €700,000 to acquire total 80% equity of Panax.MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: MXC) has relisted on the Australian Securities Exchange and will move ahead with a $5 million planned capital raising after the ASX confirmed that MGC’s acquisition of a European medical cannabis company does not constitute a change of nature or scale under Chapter 11 listing rules.

The funds will be used to expand MGC’s European operations and to acquire Panax Pharma s.r.o., a Czech-based company holding a medical cannabis breeding license with access to growing space in the Vukoz Research Institute of the Czech Ministry of the Environment.

Under the agreement, MGC Pharma will be issued 25% equity in Panax upfront, and a further 55% for funding the next year’s operational costs, up to a maximum of €700,000 to acquire total 80% equity of Panax.