Two patients suffering from chronic pain have been approved for medical cannabis use in Sweden, marking the first time the condition has been deemed eligible to access the nation’s program, according to a report from The Local. The individuals both suffer from severe back injuries and their doctors appealed to the Medical Products Agency on their behalf.
Dr. Fredrik von Kieseritzky, who advised the physicians involved with the patients on the case, called the MPA approval “pragmatic,” indicating that the patients were advised to use an edible delivery method rather than smoking.
“For me personally it is important to keep a watertight distinction between medicinal and recreational cannabis,” he said in the report.
The patients’ cannabis will be supplied by the government, who uses a Dutch company for its supply.
Karl Mikael Kälkner, a representative for the Swedish MPA, said that the decision was “not an approval of the use of cannabis in general” as registration in Sweden’s medical cannabis program is still determined on a case-by-case basis.
“There is clearly some potential for abuse. This is a drug that is illegal to possess and consume. But we have other medicines that are also classed as narcotics,” he said. “If the rules are correctly followed then there is no reason that [cannabis] should not be used as a preparation in a clinical setting.”
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