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PATIENTS WHO ARE prescribed medical cannabis will no longer need to travel to the Netherlands to collect medication, according to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.
A new permanent delivery service will be established, after a temporary delivery service was created in April due to the travel difficulties created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to Covid-19, patients would have had to travel to the Netherlands to collect prescriptions as the country forbid the commercial export of cannabis oils but would allow the filling of prescriptions from other EU states.
Minister Donnelly said that he had heard stories from families about how the temporary scheme had made a huge difference to their lives.
“I am so pleased that these problems will now be a thing of the past for them. There will no longer be a need for them to travel abroad in order to collect their prescribed cannabis products. Instead, they can focus on their health and wellbeing,” said Minister Donnelly.
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.
According to the Department, officials will now work on how the scheme can be implemented on a permanent basis.
In order for someone to get a prescription for medical cannabis, an application must be sent to the Department of Health and must be endorsed by the consultant who is responsible for the patient.
The medical decision on whether to prescribe or not prescribe a patient medical cannabis is solely up to the clinician. The Minister for Health does not play a role in this process.
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Great news for Ava and the many kids around the country that depends on this to live a normal life
Great for the people who need it. This is not a step the Irish government took but a step they took in thr Netherlands. Fair play to them for doing that. Our government has done nothing to help people get this, so a step in thr right direction for the Netherlands not us. If the minister reqlly wants to help people, let them buy it in their local pharmacy the same way they can get codeine tablets and the likes, which to be honest are far more addictive and dangerous to your health.
@Chimo Spinola: Nothing to do with Nederland’s. Read story again. It looks like it’s business as usual in Netherlands policy of not shipping product to patients.
@Chimo Spinola: spot on but the big alcholol and pharma companies have such a hold on it, we cant even research more into its health benefits because its ‘illegal’ LOL
@Chimo Spinola: do doctors even practise medicine anymore? they seem to just read from a handguides popping the same pills as each other
Fair play. A good news story to start the week
Great news and hats off to Vera Twomey for leading the fight on this.
Now if the Goverment can go one further and fully legalise/regulate/tax it for recreational use and take it out of the hands of the gangs and drug dealers.
@David Ha: 120yr billion the market is in the states, and growing…
About Bl00dy time too in this backward hole of place
I have epilepsy and can not sleep well I wonder if I could get it?
@David O Brien: talk to your GP and your Consultant.
@David O Brien: you’d need to prove your epilepsy is drug resistant first. And good luck getting it prescribed for not sleeping. I came off all epilepsy meds about 3 years ago because the side effects were rotten. Started using the green stuff and never looked back. Haven’t had a seizure since and I sleep like a baby.
@David O Brien: you need to prove that you have refractory epilepsy and have tried 10+ medication combinations. CBD oil isn’t effective in all types of epilepsy so, it also depends on what type of epilepsy you have. Lastly, you have to cover the cost yourself, approx €12,000 per year, only *some* patients have managed to get reimbursed by the government here.
@Sirius: a friend has epilepsy and it worked for him. This is good news because now he can get it here instead of travelling to Spain or Netherlands.
@Sirius: It’s a crazy price considering it’s a weed, you’d be better off growing your own & YouTube how to turn it into the oil!!
@Colette Kearns: Good luck trying to accurately dose high-strength CBD (which is what seems to work for refractory epilepsy) off a homegrown plant…
@Hossam Ibrahim: it works for many people and it doesn’t work for many other people. It’s not a magic, one size fits all solution. And, I feel it’s necessary to make this very clear – cannabis is not the same as CBD oil, smoking joints is not the same as taking a carefully dosed CBD oil.
Why are people thankful for the relaxation of bureaucratic rules that would not have been there in the first place if all the healthcare systems of the EU really put the patient first, as they so often claim to do.
@Michael Flynn: Probably just happy for the families that have been crying out for the goverment to do something about this, it looks like that is finally happening for them. Good point you’re making though.
Great news, a step in the right direction
well another step in the right direction, as a person who uses cannabis every day for serve pain relief, but this would mean i still would have to spend a hundred euro at least to fill a percription, useless sods one day i can go to aldi or lidi , that would be better
CBD oil without THC is not as effective. it is a very small amount but it is required. Thats why it has to be only certain strains of plant are used.
The modern grow your own or buy is very heavy in THC the stoned part but low in CBD so is medically useless. We have a great weather system for hemp and it has so many other ways to use it apart from this medical use
How do you take it?
@Peter: There are a lot of ways. You can smoke it – though that’s obviously not ideal if you’re taking it for medical reasons. You can vaporise it (just like e-cigarettes, though you are vaporising dry herb so you know exactly what is in it). Alternatively you can cook with it or take sublingual drops.
@Stuck in the Muddle:
Oh, I recall seeing on tv someone using it in their cereal or something like that.
Is the “high” taken from the medicinal marijuana?
@Peter: medicinal cannabis mainly consists of CBD, the non psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
@Hossam Ibrahim: Not necessarily, lots of medicinal cannabis contains normal levels of THC.
@David Ha: I agree, that’s why I said mainly consists of CBD.
@Peter: Vape, food or under the tongue, medical cannabis is usually in oil form (here anyway). A lab process involving ethanol extracts the oil from the dry herb, it can vary in strengths as based on particular strains, types and percentages of the mix (THC/CBD). Medical professional can indicate a dosage but a lot of it is down to individual trial.
@Hossam Ibrahim:
Oh, I see.
I thought it was always removed.
Arrest and charge all involved!! Criminal substance!
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