Ms Maria Egan:

There was a question from Deputy Durkan about whether one medicine would have the same effect on anyone that it was given to. That is not the case. Once a medicine is authorised, it is done for specific patient populations and contraindicated in many cases as well. The doses will be different for separate patients and the same dose would not apply to an adult as against a child or even with a patient with reduced kidney or liver function. Doses must be adjusted. That point is particularly relevant when one thinks about the use of cannabis. The endocannabinoid system, which is the system of cannabinoids in the body, was really only discovered in the late 1990s. Professor Finn probably went into much detail about how little is known about that system and how we do not know how cannabis interacts with that system, produces its effects and may interfere with other medicines that a patient may be taking. It could result in an enhanced effect of some other prescribed medicines or reduce the intended effect. Those outcomes will potentially be negative for a patient. The issue must be very carefully thought through before any decision is made about prescribing any medicine to a patient. It is done on a very individual basis.