On March 22, German Drugs Commissioner Christa Nickels received 11,000 signatures in support of access to medicinal marijuana. Nickels, a member of the Green party, agreed, saying that marijuana and hashish should be available for therapeutic purposes. She also advocated cannabis as "more cost effective than synthetic substitutes."
An alliance of German professional medical associations demanded the right to prescribe marijuana at a press conference the same day, and announced their intention to fight for that right before the Constitutional Court.