Reasons why the Czech Republic is seeing a spike in the number of patients using medical cannabis

The steady increase in the number of prescriptions issued, as well as the number of patients and doctors since 2019, can be primarily explained by the fact that since the beginning of 2020, 90% of the cost of medical cannabis is covered by insurance up to a limit of 30 grams of inflorescences per month. In addition, a significant increase in the number of consumers of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant is due to a significant simplification of the procedure for its registration. For example, starting January 1, doctors no longer need to issue a special document in paper form to their patients who use medical cannabis, instead everything is done electronically using electronic prescriptions.

As well as in Germany, Canada, Israel, Colombia, the Netherlands and a number of other countries in which the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant is regulated at the legislative level, after the opening of the medical cannabis market in the Czech Republic, a gradual increase in the number of patients was observed over the first two years, using the therapeutic properties of the plant. Then it was saturated and for a long period of time it practically did not grow - a period of stagnation, traditional for all the above countries. It was originally predetermined by the significant cost of both pharmacological preparations made on the basis of the medicinal properties of the plant, and the raw material itself, which has a significant therapeutic potential. Just like in the countries mentioned above, everything changed dramatically in 2020, when the cost of pharmacological drugs began to be reimbursed by the insurance medicine of the Czech Republic. For the second year in a row, the Czech Republic has seen an exponential increase in the number of patients using medical cannabis, as well as the active work of government agencies to facilitate the access of patients to cannabis pharmacological preparations. Precisely because in our country at the moment a similar policy is being pursued to lobby the interests of, first of all, pharmaceutical companies selling various drugs made on the basis of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant with subsequent compensation of their cost from the state budget. The editors of the specialized electronic edition of national cannabis growers are sure that the citizens of Ukraine should know that after a not very long period of time the cost of hemp pharmacological preparations, which they may not use, will be compensated from the state budget - i.e. from their own pocket.

Sales of medical cannabis in the Czech Republic are up 63% year-on-year in 2021. This market is expected to have further growth potential in the next 12 months amid recent changes to the current legislation, the adoption of which may lead to lower prices for hemp-based pharmaceuticals, as the country's legal market opens even more for pharmaceutical manufacturers, based on the medicinal properties of the plant.

Official figures show that a total of 109.4 kg of medical cannabis were dispensed to Czech patients last year, a clear increase from 66.9 kg in 2020. Last year, an average of 9.1 kg of medical cannabis was distributed monthly in the Czech Republic, compared to an average of just 5.6 kg for the same period in 2020.

The amount of hemp raw materials sold in the Czech Republic in 2020/21

Statistics from the State Agency for Medical Cannabis (Státní agentura pro konopí pro léčebné použití, SAKL) show that the highest number of prescriptions have been issued in the last three months of 2021, with 5,500 prescriptions issued from October to the end of December. The total for the year was 19,441 - up 37% from 2020 - November was the busiest month, with 1,976 prescriptions issued by doctors. Overall, more than 1,000 prescriptions were filled every month, the first time since the use of medical cannabis was regulated in the Czech Republic in 2013.

Number of prescriptions issued in 2020/21

The vast majority of medical cannabis prescribed to patients - 80% - was supposed to help relieve chronic pain, followed by multiple sclerosis (12%). Parkinson's disease was also in the top three.

According to SAKL, the unique number of patients using medical cannabis in the Czech Republic also increased by 22.5% year on year from 3,755 to 4,601. This contrasts sharply with 2019, when only 434 patients were prescribed therapeutically active cannabis by the end of the year, and doctors wrote 4145 prescriptions - an average of 345 per month.

The latest SAKL data shows that the number of registered doctors authorized to dispense medicinal cannabis rose from 78 at the end of 2019 to 170 in 2020 and 191 last year.

Commentary of the specialists of the Association “Ukrainian Industrial Hemp”

The steady increase in the number of prescriptions issued, as well as the number of patients and doctors since 2019, can be primarily explained by the fact that since the beginning of 2020, 90% of the cost of medical cannabis is covered by insurance up to a limit of 30 grams of inflorescences per month. In addition, a significant increase in the number of consumers of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant is due to a significant simplification of the procedure for its registration. For example, starting January 1, doctors no longer need to issue a special document in paper form to their patients who use medical cannabis, instead everything is done electronically using electronic prescriptions. It must also be borne in mind that, according to the new legislation of the Czech Republic, hemp extracts or tinctures with less than 1% THC content are also no longer considered addictive substances.