Prague, Dec 15 (CTK) – The International Cannabis and Cannaboids Institute (ICCI) was opened in Prague on Tuesday with U.S. and Canadian investors contributing half a billion crowns, which Health Minister Svatopĺuk Nemecek said is the biggest private investment in Czech medical research in the past years.
The institute, for which Professor Lumir Hanus, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will also work, wants to contribute to the use of cannabis in the treatment of various diseases based on research evidence and the patients´ experience.
ICCI managing director Pavel Kubu said the research is to contribute to the tailor-made treatment of patients.
The scientists also want to make use of the experience of the patients who have “illegally” treated themselves with the drug they made from the plants they grew or that they gained on the black market.
The institute founders say the non-standardised and “unscientific” attitude together with the fears of abuse of cannabis are among the reasons of why cannabis is not yet accessible to all patients who need it.
The cannabis treatment has been legalised in the Czech Republic, but pharmacies only sell imported cannabis that is too expensive for most patients and most doctors hesitate about prescribing it.
Doctors can prescribe cannabis to AIDS and multiple sclerosis patients.
The ICCI is a joint project of patient organisations, Czech scientific societies and the investment company Dioscorides Global Holdings.
Its headquarters is in Prague and it will cooperate as an excellence centre with Charles University in Prague, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Masaryk University in Brno.
