According to the online magazine DAZ.online, the Association of Cannabis Supplying Pharmacies (VCA) is now advocating a prescription requirement for CBD products. However, the VCA believes that the classification of cannabidiol (CBD) as a narcotic is not necessary.

In many pharmacies the demand for CBD products is increasing, because it is said that they have a calming, sleep-inducing and pain-relieving effect. However, it is problematic that CBD products are not produced according to standardized procedures and that therefore no studies according the long-term effect exist. In addition, the legal situation in Germany is unclear. Some products are available as food supplements and others as medicals.

The report further says that “CBD preparations according to NRF prescription (Oily Cannabidiol Solution 100 mg/mL NRF 22.10. and Oily Cannabidiol Solution 50 mg/mL NRF 22.10.) are not available only on prescription. The CBD-drug Epidyolex is, however, only available on prescription, which unsettles pharmacists and raises the question whether the marketing of CBD products is permissible.

CBD products: No classification as narcotic

In a statement, the VCA said that it is not necessary to classify CBD as a narcotic because it does not have a psychedelic effect. Nor is there any danger of addiction. Instead, it would be necessary to make products containing CBD available only on prescription.

“CBD is an important ingredient of the cannabis plant, which both influences the effect of THC and can itself trigger significant effects through its ability to activate specific receptors of the body’s endocannabinoid system,” the VCA said according to the media report.

According to the VCA, CBD has great therapeutic potential. That’s why they say that the cannabinoid has to be classified as a drug substance – just like the CBD drug Epidyolex. The VCA is critical of the classification as a food supplement.

“The initially consistently positive reporting in various magazines and sales-promoting announcements on countless manufacturer sites on the Internet aroused people’s curiosity about this potential panacea,” the association says. “CBD is more than just a hope for patients and has very good pharmacological effects. Even if the long-term effects have not yet been researched, it deserves the chance to be perceived as an effective drug,” the VCA said.

CBD products: Prescription requirement as a solution?

The VCA sees a solution in the fact that CBD products are sold through pharmacies as prescription-only preparations or finished drugs.

“A classification of CBD as a standardized prescription-only substance, whether as a prescription preparation or as a ready-to-use drug such as Epidyolex, supplemented by its eligibility for reimbursement under the statutory health insurance system, is completely sufficient in the eyes of the VCA to give CBD the opportunity to develop where it really needs to arrive: For the sick person who needs help,” the VCA concludes in its statement.

Sources: https://www.deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de/news/artikel/2020/08/26/cannabis-apotheker-fordern-rezeptflicht-fuer-cbd-produkte/chapter:1, https://vca-deutschland.de/stellungnahme-des-vca-zur-angedachten-einstufung-von-cannabidiol-cbd-als-betaeubungsmittel-btm/