Michael Harty
Question:164. Deputy Michael Harty asked the Minister for Health the stage of development the access programme for medicinal cannabis products is at; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50027/18]
View answerThursday, 29 November 2018
Questions (164)
Written answers
Considerable progress is being made in relation to the Cannabis for Medical Use Access Programme.
An Expert Group has drawn up clinical guidance for healthcare professionals treating patients through the Access Programme. These guidelines are available on the Department’s website. The guidelines contain detailed information on medical cannabis, including clinical guidance on the use of medical cannabis and guidance on which cannabis products are appropriate for medical use.
Officials in my Department are working on secondary legislation in the form of three Statutory Instruments.
Whilst medical cannabis products are not medicines, ensuring that such products meet appropriate quality standards when they are made available to the Irish market is a critical aspect of facilitating safe access to medical cannabis for Irish-based patients. Department of Health officials are working intensively on this issue to ensure a supply of appropriate medical cannabis products to meet the needs of Irish patients. However, the Department of Health has no control in relation to business decisions taken by commercial product manufacturers and has no powers to compel such companies to supply their products to Irish market.
Pending full operation of the Access Programme, doctors continue to utilise the Ministerial licencing route to prescribe medical cannabis for their patients. Licences have now been granted for twelve individual patients. Until suitable medical cannabis products are made available in Ireland, prescribers and their patients are sourcing the prescribed product from a pharmacy in The Netherlands, on foot of their medical prescription. It is intended that the Ministerial licence application scheme will continue to operate in parallel with the Cannabis for Medical Use Access Programme, after the programme becomes operational, for exceptional cases only where there is an unmet clinical need.