"In the coming weeks, the calls for the cultivation of medical cannabis for medical use by public and private companies will be ready".
This was announced by Undersecretary of Health Andrea Costa on the broadcast 'Mi manda Rai3'.
"We are launching tenders that give the possibility of cultivating cannabis for medical use also to private and public companies to be able to achieve the goal of being self-sufficient in production. This - he said - is an issue that we are dealing with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Interior, we are well advanced along the way ".
In pharmacies throughout Italy, "there is a strong shortage of medical cannabis
for the preparation of cannabis-based magisterial drugs: the supply is not sufficient and pharmacies have great difficulty with respect to the exponentially increasing demand for these drugs by sick. We are unable to meet the demands. "
Federfarma national secretary Roberto Tobia explains this to ANSA.
"The shortage is chronic. Moreover, despite the reimbursement by the NHS, in various Regions the preparations are not reimbursed and the cost for patients can even reach over 500 euros per month".
