In the US, generally speaking, because of federal law no medical cannabis products can be legally shipped across state lines.
There seem to be some exceptions, and “cannabinoid” FDA-approved single molecule pharmaceuticals are exempted altogether, but in general, while the same companies can compete for multiple licenses in multiple states, basically every medically legal state has to create their own production systems, products and monitoring/regulation systems from scratch.
This is hardly an efficient or ideal system and generally results in years passing after a state legalizes before patients are actually served at all, let alone afforded a full menu of cannabis medicines.
However, similar effects also abound around the world. The UN’s cannabis policy is governed by a 1961 document, the “Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.” If some of its draconian provisions sound familiar to our readers, no surprise given that the Convention largely mirrors US policies from an era when the US pretty much dictated most key UN policies. (The Convention has been since amended after the US escalated prohibition in the 1970s with the Controlled Substances Act [CSA].)
Since so many nations are signatories, unwinding the Convention is a thorny, complicated affair (like so much about getting out from under all the cruft we live with in this country). Meaning not only that cannabis imports and exports are also severely restricted, but that countries which decide to legalize cannabis find themselves in conflict with the UN.
Some bottom lines? For one, patients in many countries with new programs (Germany in this article) are denied timely and appropriate medicines. For a second, this is yet another self-administered blow to the US economy, as no country in the world (other than tiny Israel) is as advanced in medicinal cannabis production techniques or as able to produce hundreds of varieties of strains. in quantities large enough to serve the world market.
So another win-win opportunity for patients and legitimate US business left on the table. As is explained in (considerable, sad but compelling) detail in the linked article (also covering developments in Canada, Bolivia, Uruguay, Turkey, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic)..
TRUCE take: The federal government must be a centipede to cover all the times its short-sightedness on cannabis keeps leading to shooting itself in the foot.
#MMJ #UNpol #Germany #Prohibition #UTpol #TRUCE
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See full article – US, German Cannabis Producers Can’t Do Business Together, Here’s Why
