Denmark: Siltanews – News Desk
First announced in November 2024, the medical cannabis bill (L135) has undergone an extensive consultation process, with Danish operators united in their calls to amend what’s described as a ‘ludicrous’ reimbursement system, alongside other major hurdles for domestic companies.
Yet, at least for now, almost nothing has changed since the completion of the consultation process, and the scheme is on track to launch with these glaring imbalances baked in.
With the Ministry of the Interior and Health and the Danish Medicines Agency (Laegemiddlestyrelsen) granted broad authority to implement changes where it sees fit, businesses remain hopeful that changes will be made before the official launch on January 01, 2026.
Jeppe Krog Rasmussen, CEO of Danish medical cannabis operator DanCann Pharma, told Business of Cannabis: “We remain hopeful that the extensive input provided during the public consultation will be duly considered – so that, once and for all, we can address the many imbalances and ensure that the new permanent framework becomes as effective and functional as possible.”
Denmark’s medical cannabis pilot scheme has been running since 2018, and has served some 1800 patients over the last three years who have collectively redeemed around 20,000 prescriptions.
In November last year, the Minister of the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde made the surprise announcement that the government planned to ‘make the scheme permanent’, and stakeholders were invited to recommend changes based on their experience with the pilot scheme.
Thomas Skovlund Schnegelsberg, CEO of Danish medical cannabis oil producer Stenocare, explained: “Basically, what’s happening is that the phrasing and scope laid out in the pilot program have been more or less copied and pasted into the permanent law. In that sense, the politicians didn’t really take the opportunity to review or introduce any major changes.”
He added that in formulating the final bill, the government’s mentality was likely ‘if it’s not broken, why fix it?’ However, for these businesses, the system is broken.
In November 2024, when the expansion of the scheme was first announced, Stenocare had just lowered its sales forecasts for a second time in three months and reported a 53% drop in gross sales for its third quarter.
Speaking to Business of Cannabis at the time, Schnegelsberg laid the blame squarely at the door of the reimbursement imbalance, which has seen patients flock to a single pharmacy thanks to an 85% government reimbursement rate.
This pharmacy is one of just two remaining in Denmark able to produce ‘magistral’ preparations, and the only one to engage in medical cannabis.
One industry stakeholder informed us that this one pharmacy is estimated to have made hundreds of millions of Danish Krone over the past few years, because ‘ultimately the reimbursements are so high, and they’re selling it for four times the price’ of the pilot scheme.