Pharmacies Will Sell Cannabis Medication in Croatia from March Onward

There is only a month remaining before Croatian pharmacies help their patients and begin to dispense medical cannabis. The date is scheduled for March, although the exact day is still unknown. According to the authorities, the cannabis will be sold in oil capsules. At the moment not all details are known although everything is heading in the right direction.

Among other things, the final price has still not been determined although we know that it will depend on the profit revenue of the pharmacy and that it will be much lower than the price of the non-regulated market, where a monthly dose of this type of oil costs around 15,000 and 20,000 Kunas (around 1,969 and 2,600 euros), “an extremely high amount”, explained Nevenka Kovac, director of the Institute of Immunology.

It is also known that the medicine will be imported, although this institution is still in talks with the Canadian manufacturer in order to seal the contract. At the moment they are working on the importation licenses and on ensuring that the strict conditions (such as those specifying how the substance should be stored) are complied with. Although it is expected that it will also be possible to market THC drops and products to inhale, they will still have to wait.

It is necessary to bear in mind that the European country legalised cannabis for medical purposes in October 2015, after a committee of experts established some rules under which patients will be able to receive their medicines. The decision was taken after assessing different medical evidence and it was agreed that the oil would only be available for those suffering from multiple sclerosis, cancer, aids, or children’s diseases such as Dravet syndrome (a type of epilepsy). Medical professionals will not be able to prescribe it to those with basic problems, although they can in order to alleviate symptoms or side effects of other illnesses.

Despite this, Ognjen Brborovic, one of the members of the expert committee that offered advice on this matter, and the president of the Department of Social Medicine and the Organisation of Health Care at the Zagreb Faculty of Medicine, has stated on several occasions that it is possible that patient categories (and the number) that can benefit from the new measure will increase in future. He also believes there will be an increase in medical treatments that use this plant to help resolve health problems. Now we just have to wait for the measure to become a reality.