The Dutch Health Ministry announced Wednesday it would extend Holland's experimental medical marijuana program for another five years. Under the program, which began in 2003, marijuana grown by government-licensed growers is sold by prescription in pharmacies.
But the prescription weed got few buyers. In Holland, where cannabis possession and limited sales are illegal but tolerated, patients found they could buy marijuana at coffee shops for one-third the price of prescription pot. As a result, the Bureau for Medical Cannabis is running a $200,000 budget deficit this year because it is overstocked with unsold medical marijuana.
Still, the Health Ministry said the program should continue because of the possibility of research advances in cannabis-based medications. In a letter to parliament, Health Minister Ab Klink said one Dutch company, Echo Pharmaceuticals, was making progress in getting a cannabis-based drug approved and needed more time to succeed.
"This development track will take years, but it can yield scientific evidence and give insight into the balance between safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis," he wrote. "By making medical marijuana available as a raw material for five years, I want to give this track a serious chance."
A spokesman for Echo, Geert Woerlee, told the Associated Press [6] that his company will be starting trials next year on a pill that contains THC, the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana. The Health Ministry hopes the drug being developed by Echo will eventually replace marijuana in pharmacies.