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MINISTER FOR HEALTH Stephen Donnelly has announced the provision for the delivery and funding of the Medicinal Cannabis Access Programme.
Once suitable medical cannabis products are made available by suppliers, the Access Programme will make it possible for a medical consultant to prescribe a listed cannabis-based treatment for a patient under his or her care for a number of medical conditions, only where the patient has failed to respond to standard treatments.
The medical conditions are:
Legislation underpinning the Medicinal Cannabis Access Programme was enacted in June 2019.
The first stage of the Programme was to have potential suppliers apply to the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) to have their cannabis-based products assessed for suitability for medical use.
Currently four products have been assessed as acceptable by the HPRA.
Further products are currently being assessed and if assessed as acceptable, will be added to the schedule of products for inclusion in the Programme.
The HSE will establish and maintain an electronic register for the Medical Cannabis Access Programme to facilitate the enrolment and recording of certain data including patient identifiers (in anonymised format), prescribers enrolled in the programme, as well as prescribed/supplied medical cannabis products.
“The purpose of this Programme is to facilitate compassionate access to cannabis for medical reasons, where conventional treatment has failed,” Donnelly said.
“It follows the clear pathway laid out by the Health Products Regulatory Authority in their expert report ‘Cannabis for Medical Use – A Scientific Review’,” he said.
“Ultimately it will be the decision of the medical consultant, in consultation with their patient, to prescribe a particular treatment, including a cannabis-based treatment, for a patient under their care.”
Donnelly added that “it is important to state that there are no plans to legalise cannabis in this country”.
Pending the commencement of the Access Programme clinicians and their patients have been availing of a licence under the Misuse of Drugs Acts 1977-2016 in order to prescribe and administer cannabis-based products. The commencement of the Access Programme will not affect these patients.
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Making weed fully legal would do more to defeat the gangs than the Guards could ever do, how anyone thinks our current system is worth continuing with is beyond me
Jail Jail Jail Jail is not and never was the answer
Sorry, are we supposed to be grateful that over 570 days later that this programme is finally being set up?
“Compassionate access” is providing cannabis medicine to all who need it, not limiting access to specific conditions. Patients shouldn’t be forced to undergo dangerous surgery or consume harmful drugs before cannabis is accessible. Cannabis should be the first option, not a last resort.
In addition, “compassionate access” isn’t forcing patients to pay up to €4000 every 3 months for prescription costs.
“Compassionate access” isn’t leaving patients with severely restricted choices for cannabis medicines. Cannabis is complex, and everyone needs a cultivar, product, or method of consumption that suits their physiological needs.
Ireland are leagues behind when it comes to understanding the legitimate applications of cannabis.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): where you getting €4000 from?
@John Rock: Patients who are forced to pay this amount every three months for their prescription.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): Where did you get figures that patients will have to pay 4000 every 3 months to be part of this scheme. I was under impression that it would be fully reimbursement.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland):
They cant just make it available to anyone that needs it. Like all pharmaceuticals, because of side effects, drugs need to be limited to those illnesses that have clinical based efficacy data. I’m sure this decision was based on scientific data.
@Hugh itssoeasy: Again, from speaking directly to patients.
Unless you have one of the “qualifying conditions” you are not reimbursed.
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: No actually, this decision isn’t based on up to date scientific data at all.
Cannabis isn’t a pharmaceutical.
Cannabis derivatives are. Which is another issue with this programme. Cannabis is an incredibly complex medicine. Limiting people to 3 oils and 4 softgels is ludicrous and ineffective. This is why most people have to rely on the illegal market or leave the country,
Why do you feel certain people should be excluded despite cannabis being effectively prescribed across the world for a wide variety of conditions? You do realise the terms of the MCAP violate the European Charter of Patient Rights?
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): Need to clarify, meant to say 4 options: 3 oils and softgels are the only pharmaceutical cannabis products available to patients under this scheme.
Very very few patients have been able to access flower but it’s limited to four strains that don’t suit patient needs and incredibly expensive.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland):
Its a drug. And has side effects. It can cause mental illness, etc. It cant be just given to anyone who feels they need it. In California if you tell your doctor you’ve a sore back, you can get a prescription. That system is being abused. I back our government, more data is needed on an array of illnesses before it can be approved. i.e. if the benefits of the drug outweigh the risk of side effects. There’s very little data out there on this.
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: The historical record of safe use of cannabis is unparalleled and is endorsed by qualified experts in cannabinoid medicine in legal states.
I rely on them. Not our government who released a 160 page report in 2006 titled “Everything You Need to Know About Cannabis”, which should have been titled “All the Misinformation You Need to Know About Cannabis.” They think people smoke the leaves for heavens sake!
The required data already exists. This is why so many other countries have implemented access and so many others are currently pushing for it.
Cannabis is a legitimate medicine for chronic pain and anxiety amongst other ailments, so a prescription for back pain is absolutely legitimate. I think you need to put aside your own personal bias and judgements and look at the scientific data.
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: Cannabis doesn’t “cause” mental illness. It can exacerbate an existing mental illness but that’s yet another great reason to legalise and regulate. As it stands now, cannabis is easily accessible to anyone of any age with no controls on quality, strain or THC/CBD content. If you have an existing mental illness and choose to take cannabis you have no control over the strength. It’s akin to asking for beer and getting whiskey although the whiskey is far more harmful. I would honestly urge you to read the evidence and make your own decisions as opposed to listening to outdated and inaccurate myths still being propagated by our government. There is, and never was, any good reason to prohibit controlled access to cannabis for responsible adults.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): This article is about the Access Programme which hasn’t commenced, but you are throwing out figures from something else to suit your arguement.
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: here you are spouting inaccuracies and mistruths about the dangers of cannabis use and there you are sporting an avatar of a man completely pumped to the max on anabolic steroids.
@Pádraig O’hEidhin and @hughitssoeasy
First off I’m a woman and far from misinformed. In fact, it’s both of you who are misinformed.
What part of “I speak to patients who are forced to pay this amount” do you not comprehend?
The MCAP was launched in June 2019. Since it wasn’t funded no patients could be prescribed under it. The only option was for patients to get their clinicians to apply for a Ministerial License to prescribe cannabis products containing THC.
Anyone can request that their clinician apply but due to lack of education it’s rare to find one who will support cannabis. If you do not have any of the qualifying conditions listed but your clinician supports your use of cannabis medicine, they will be granted a license but again, if you do not have one of three qualifying conditions you will not be reimbursed for the costs which range from €600-€4000 every three months.
Are you expecting me to provide you with private contact information for patients to satisfy you?
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: Your lack of self awareness is staggering. You’re on here spouting misinformed nonsense about cannabis while telling others, who are actually informed, that they don’t know what they’re talking about. You are part of the problem and you are one of the reasons thousands of people continue to suffer or are forced to break the law in order to get access. Educate yourself before spouting nonsense about a topic you clearly know nothing about.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): I never said you were misinformed but I think you are confusing these 2 system to suit your arguement. I totally believe that SOME patients are paying the figures that you quote, however that is for a different system, is it not. The article is about the Access program. I am sure plenty of other patients are being reimbursed but hey best not to quote those figures as probably wouldn’t be good for your argument.
@Hugh itssoeasy: I am not confused. Out of curiosity, how long have you been working with government, patients and clinicians (nationally and globally) to feel confident enough to make that statement?
I don’t know how to be any clearer about this. Everything I have stated does not change not change simply because the MCAP has funding and is running. This is the problem that needs to be addressed.
This is the last time I will state this until there is further clarification from the Department:
All patients who do not have 1 of 3 qualifying conditions listed will not be reimbursed and subject to prescription fees between €600-€4000 every three months.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): Im informed. Ive seen the dangers of cannabis first hand. And I’m fully aware of the lack of data to support its use, except for a few illnesses.
Mind you, most painkillers for back and muscle pain were only ever tested on men. I was unlucky enough to have a painful back sprain once. Several men highly recommended various tablets which did nothing for the pain. I was sitting at home in a daze until an older woman suggested trying only paracetamol which did take the edge off it until I recovered.
So, while I’ve no idea if cannabis products would have been worth trying, it’s likely that they would have.
Growing up in Ireland I’ve had decades of experience of women being refused contraception, told off for asking for it, having to change doctors to obtain a prescription and then being berated in chemist shops for trying to buy some. I can readily imagine how many barriers are put in the way of patients and their carers who only need a perfectly legal solution to help a known medical issue.
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: You mean you’ve seen the dangers of an unregulated cannabis market first hand. I suffer from chronic nerve pain and believe me the dangers of opiates are far greater. I gave up alcohol nearly 10 years ago and that has been proven to be one of the most dangerous, harmful and addictive substances on the market today. Your ignorance of the topic isn’t your fault. You’ve believed the propaganda you’ve been been for years and that’s on the government. Your inability to open your mind and take an objective view however, is on you. Get used to it though because medical use is only the start. Outdated attitudes like yours are thankfully and quite literally dying out, paving the way for cannabis to be legal here in the next 5 to 10 years.
@Declan Doherty: I agree Alcohol is very dangerous as well. It prob wouldn’t be legalized if it was illegal now. I work in pharmaceuticals, I see the amount of clinical data needed to commercialize a product. Maybe in a few years there will be enough data to make a decision to approve cannabis for a multitude of illnesses. But currently that data isn’t there. Theres no need to call people ignorant, when I know I have a more informed opinion than you. Your attitude does nothing to help the legalisation cause. I would say to you, how me the data. I can gaurentee you cant. Thats called being uninformed.
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: why not? They do it in other countries and what are the pharmacological benefits of nicotine or ethyl alcohol?
@Pádraig O’hEidhin: you’re way out of date- California no longer requires a prescription- anyone over 21 can buy it and it there is no evidence that it ‘causes’ mental illness. Certainly no more than alcohol
What’s new in this ? Seems to be another empty statement from this minister. The program remains inaccessible to thousands of patients who would benefit and the list of conditions for which it can be described is pathetically short. Painkillers that many rely on to live a normal life have been unlicensed since last year and so this government is essentially denying basic medical treatment for people with chronic pain. This leaves them with no option but to break the law. Cannabis needs to be legalised for medical and recreational use and if FFG won’t step up and do it, SF will. Legalisation is coming one way or another.
Owing to our conservative and religious history, we’ll be amongst the last of western countries to implement the full suite of medically available cannabis laws. I note, this is a stepping-stone but is very disappointing its taken so long..
@Bernard McWilliams: It seems even more backward to deny patients an effective and affordable supplement that could help the economy. I don’t suggest that people struggling with severe pain can grow their own or distil what they need at the time – but so many countries have local processors to produce enough, at a low cost, to serve local patients.
Honestly, you would think this was opium under debate.
Just typical Irish really – keep the list extremely exclusive so the people who need it most will need to jump through hoops and line consultant’s pockets to get a piece of paper. It’s easier for many who don’t have the “special 3″ conditions to just message a friend of a friend and buy a 50bag so that they can sleep/calm down/chill out/be creative/have fun/laugh etc. I agree there are cases that should be prioritised for access, but it shouldn’t be exclusive.
I moved to another country where marijuana is not legal but decriminalised because I use it regularly alongside CBT tools to combat debilitating anxiety and the ensuing vomiting and paranoia that came with the daily panic attacks I **used** to suffer. I don’t smoke all day every day but I keep my levels as such that I am now more functional than I have ever been in my adult life, even prospering thanks to the little herb that keeps my anxiety at bay and – oh the horror – made me eat a whole selection box in one episode of Community. I did more reckless stuff off the back of 5 pints when I used to drink. I save over €15 a gram compared to Irish prices too.
As soon as the thick heads at the top realise that they would make an absolute killing in taxes at all stages in the growth chain, Ireland will become the little green legal country. Just need to wait a few more years until the older generation are no longer influential and can stop pushing conservative Catholic values on generations who don’t care about “what the neighbours say” anymore.
As I write this on my coffee break from work, my neighbour is sitting on his balcony smoking a fat one. Smells good!
@Rachel: good for you! It’s a pity we have such a conservative, Ill-informed government
I’d also like to highlight to everyone that the terms of the MCAP are in direct violation of the European Charter of Patient Rights which states:
“ 1-Right to Preventive Measures
Every individual has the right to a proper service in order to prevent illness.
The health services have the duty to pursue this end by raising people’s awareness, guaranteeing health procedures at regular intervals free of charge for various groups of the population at risk, and making the results of scientific research and technological innovation available to all.
2-Right of Access
Every individual has the right of access to the health services that his or her health needs require. The health services must guarantee equal access to everyone, without discriminating on the basis of financial resources, place of residence, kind of illness or time of access to services. An individual requiring treatment, but unable to sustain the costs, has the right to be served free of charge.”
They are in the pockets of big pharma and deserve nothing but contempt.
“The welfare of patients and their families comes first and I am happy to reassure them that they will no longer have to personally source their prescriptions.” Stephen Donnelly.
What about everyone else who still have to personally and illegally source their medicine Stephen ? Clearly their welfare does not come first.
And is it my imagination or has this failed half hearted initiative now been announced 4 times in the media over the last 2 years ?
Vote in different people if you want change
@John Sadlier: if only it was that simple. Not enough of the public see or know about the medical benefits and while it’s an illegal narcotic, few studies are being carried out on the potentially positive factors associated with it’s decriminalisation. It’s mostly a ‘drugs are bad’ attitude out there. That’s why very few politicians want to grasp that nettle. It’s career suicide.
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