Dutch pharmacies to prescribe marijuana

Pharmacies in the Netherlands can now legally fill prescriptions for marijuana as a medicine.

Some Dutch doctors have recommended marijuana for years, mostly to cancer patients as an appetite enhancer and to combat pain and nausea.

But it was usually bought at one of the country's 800 "coffee shops," where small amounts of marijuana are sold openly.

A bill authorising pharmacies to fill marijuana prescriptions was approved by a large majority in the Dutch Parliament in 2001, and went into effect yesterday.

Bas Kuik, a spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Health, said the Dutch Government would license several official growers this year.

Many pharmacies use marijuana packaged by Maripharm, a company that advertises its product as "standardised, vacuum-packed and bearing patient information and dose advice".