Three years of cannabis as medicine—preliminary results of the survey accompanying the prescription of medical cannabis in Germany

Abstract

In Germany, physicians who prescribe medical cannabis flowers or cannabis-based medicines (narcotic prescription) at the expense of the statutory health insurance are obliged to take part in a noninterventional accompanying survey that runs until 31 March 2022. At the time of this interim evaluation, 11 May 2020, there were 10,010 complete datasets collected. The most frequently treated symptoms were pain (73%), followed by spasticity (10%), and anorexia/wasting (6%). Dronabinol (i.e., prescription drug or Marinol®) was most frequently (65%) prescribed, followed by cannabis flowers (18%), Sativex® (13%), cannabis extract (4%, with increasing frequency), and nabilone (0.3%). The 6485 cases treated with dronabinol already allows a subgroup evaluation concerning efficacy. The typical cannabis side effects of tiredness, dizziness, dry mouth, and nausea occur with all cannabis medicines, and correspond to those already known from the product information of the cannabis-based medicinal products authorized under the pharmaceutical law. The potentially serious adverse effects of depression, suicidal ideation, delusions, hallucinations, dissociation, and misperceptions were each reported with a frequency higher than 0.1%. There were remarkable differences between patients treated with cannabis flowers and those with other cannabis medicines. Patients treated with cannabis flowers are significantly younger and predominantly male. They are treated more often by general practitioners and internists, their diagnosis differs more often from the typical diagnoses (pain, spasticity, anorexia/wasting), and they have more prior experience with cannabis. The underreporting in the accompanying survey is mainly in this patient group.