Medical cannabis will continue to be sold exclusively at hospital pharmacies, health minister Paulette Lenert confirmed on Tuesday.

ADR MP Jeff Engelen had asked the parliamentary question, as his party believed that medical cannabis should be made available on prescription at all pharmacies in the country. This would remove the required travel to a hospital for patients.

It were difficult to change the distribution procedure at the moment, explained Lenert: "This goes hand-in-hand with strong safety protocols. These can be guaranteed in hospital pharmacies, but requires much more effort in local pharmacies."

"The consultation offered is also much more extensive", said Lenert.

The health minister did acknowledge, however, that customer complaints about this issue specifically had been registered already.

The first pilot phase of medical cannabis is nearly over, and it looks like there could be a second test phase. This may then also shift the conversation to the topic of availability and distribution, said Lenert.