Self-Medication with Cannabis, Chapter 17 Arno Hazekamp and George Pappas April 2019, 17-Pertwee-Chap17.indd 319 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arno_Hazekamp/research   17.1 Introduction The medicinal use of cannabis is slowly gaining a more general acceptance worldwide. Canada (since 2001) and the Netherlands (since 2003) have government-run programs, in which quality-controlled herbal cannabis is supplied by specialized and licensed companies. Several other countries are now setting up their own programs (Israel, Czech Republic, Switzerland) or import products from the Dutch program (Italy, Finland, Germany, Switzerland). In the US, despite strong opposition by the federal government, so far 18 states including the District of Columbia have introduced laws to permit “medical marijuana use” [...]