In Ireland, hemp-based pharmaceuticals will be reimbursed by the state

The mechanisms for reimbursing the cost from the state budget in different EU countries are not the same, but the end result is always the same - each taxpayer in the country pays for the use of the therapeutic properties of the plant by patients.

On the pages of the specialized electronic edition of national cannabis growers, attention is regularly focused on the fact that the cost of pharmacological preparations made on a hemp basis is prohibitively high not only for residents of not very wealthy EU countries, but also for citizens of Germany, the Netherlands, as well as a number of other economically developed countries of Europe. ... This material concerns a similar situation in which the pharmacological lobby in Ireland has achieved reimbursement of the cost of only one hemp-based pharmaceutical product from the budget of the island state so far.

The Health Service Executive of Ireland has confirmed that the state will reimburse the cost of purchasing the pharmaceutical drug Epidiolex to patients suffering from Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and tuberous sclerosis. The confirmation of the reimbursement of the cost by the above-mentioned government agency means that this drug, based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis, will now be available in accordance with medical proposals, a long-term treatment plan for the disease, as well as developed payment mechanisms for the drug.

Despite the fact that Epidiolex was available in Ireland since 2019, as the above mentioned pharmacological drug was not approved for reimbursement, therefore patients had to pay for it. According to a significant number of people using this drug, the costs associated with this were simply unbearable for families, many of which ran into thousands of euros per month.

Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

Immediately after regulating the possibility of using pharmacological preparations based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis, lobbying structures raise the issue of reimbursing the cost of these drugs. The mechanisms for reimbursing the cost from the state budget in different EU countries are not the same, but the end result is always the same - each taxpayer in the country pays for the use of the therapeutic properties of the plant by patients. They forget to talk about this axiom now in Ukraine, when they are lobbying for the adoption of a regulatory framework that regulates the possibilities for the use of pharmacological preparations made from hemp raw materials. On the other hand, the national branch of modern cannabis growing is demonized, which provides opportunities for the widespread cultivation of therapeutic hemp varieties with a huge therapeutic potential or "launch" of the market for various types of goods made on the basis of the healing / medicinal properties of the hemp plant (food, cosmetics, various kind of additive).