Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

To reply to some of the points made by Deputy O'Connell, there is a huge body of evidence on this issue. The most contemporary report is probably the Barnes report. Its author, Professor Michael Barnes, will make a presentation on the benefits of medicinal cannabis in the audio-visual room tomorrow. I hope the Deputy will attend and be enlightened.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority report on this issue is fatally flawed. One glaring omission from the report is the issue of chronic pain. As most people will know, medicinal cannabis is highly beneficial in cases of chronic pain.

Medicinal cannabis programmes are in place in 28 states in the US and 11 countries in the European Union. Other countries are way ahead of us on this issue.