Mr. Eugene Lennon:

I will start off but there is a long list of questions and I am sure that my colleagues will come in on some of them. Deputy Kelleher asked why I said the Bill is not in the public interest and wanted the views of the Chief Medical Officer. It is his view also that the Bill is not in the public interest. He believes there is an established system of regulation for medicines and controlled drugs in place already and that we are setting up a parallel system for one substance, cannabis, and undermining the systems that exist for medicines and controlled drugs. There is also the concern about the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, and I take on board Deputy Boyd Barrett's point that was not the intention. Removing reference to cannabis from that Act, taken with references to recreational use of cannabis, to encouraging employers to review their drug free workplace policies and no penalties for the offences in this Bill gives a sense that it is heading towards decriminalisation of recreational use of cannabis. That may be because large parts of it were taken from former Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan's previous Bill, which went much further in the direction of recreational cannabis.

The Department and the Chief Medical Officer are concerned that any doctor could issue a certificate for any condition under this Bill because we are talking about a substance that is not a medicine and has not gone through the normal regulatory procedures and about very serious illnesses.