Spain's Ministry of Health to present its medical cannabis law next month

In Spain, the Ministry of Health is currently drafting the law that will regulate the medical cannabis in the country.

The Spanish government has announced that the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) is working on the issue, following a parliamentary question from a member of the Ciudadanos political party.

«AEMPS is preparing a roadmap for the appropriate regulatory framework and the viability of these recommendations, guaranteeing the quality of these products (standardized cannabis extracts or preparations), so that their use contributes to the health of patients who may need them and to the protection of public health,» the government responded, after being asked about regulatory advances and the roadmap for the plant's medical use.

AEMPS is thus seeking to meet the deadline set by the Congress of Deputies' Subcommittee on Medical Cannabis, which last June recommended that medical cannabis will be available in pharmacies in Spain before the end of 2022.

Regulation of medical cannabis in Spain nears

What other suggestions did the congressional subcommittee make regarding medical cannabis? The text states that «the dispensing of magistral formulas with extracts or standardized preparations of cannabis should be carried out by the health system's pharmacy network, giving preference to hospital pharmacies and exploring the alternative of community pharmacies, which may meet the requirements».

In addition, the patients who will be able to access cannabis will be those suffering from multiple sclerosis, Certain forms of epilepsy, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, endometriosis, cancer pain and chronic non-oncological pain (including neuropathic pain), with the possibility of extending it to other therapeutic indications when studies provide consistent evidence.

In particular, it remains to be defined whether cannabis flowers for vaporization will be exempt or not.