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

Today I stand here under circumstances of my choosing, but the circumstances of many individuals and families suffering throughout the country are certainly not of their choosing.

I will put a question to those in the House and those listening or watching the debate. What would they do if their child, parent, sister, brother or friend was diagnosed with an illness that could be treated with a medicine that was unobtainable? Less than nine months ago, my knowledge of medical cannabis was limited. I had certain vague ideas, perhaps even ignorance, on the subject of medicinal cannabis. My journey so far is part of an ongoing journey of education, seeking out the medical benefits of cannabis in order that I can represent the tens of thousands who need this medicine and who would benefit greatly from improvements in its accessibility.

During the past six months I have met and corresponded with some extraordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Some of the life stories I have heard are truly remarkable. The story of Marie Fleming's battle with multiple sclerosis and her husband Tom helping her to relieve the pain using cannabis is harrowing on the one hand but, on the other, a story of love that shows the medical benefits of using cannabis when other standard medicines have failed. Extraordinary too is the story of Mark Gaynor and his struggle to bring comfort and relief to his five year old son, Ronan, who suffers from a rare childhood cancer. I would like to mention one person in particular who I think the people of this country have taken to their hearts. Vera Twomey's campaign for her daughter, Ava, has been the catalyst that has not only won the hearts and minds of the public, but also forced the Government to review its policy on medical cannabis. Vera's courage and determination has meant that she has spoken up not only for Ava, but also the countless others who find themselves in similar distressing circumstances. We owe Ms Twomey, her family and many others who have come out publicly on this issue an enormous amount of gratitude for having told their personal stories.

In the 19th century, a man probably largely forgotten in Irish history, William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, a doctor from Limerick in the early part of that century, popularised medical cannabis. Dr. O'Shaughnessy's vision and forward thinking encouraged modern medicine to engage with the healing benefits of cannabis. His legacy lives on in his contribution to the greater good in treating people with medical cannabis. Unfortunately, however, over the past five decades, the cannabis plant has been stigmatised, criminalised and demonised by governments and corporations with their own vested interests. The war on drugs has been a miserable failure, and all over the world governments are now picking up the pieces.

The Bill provides that patients can receive a legally protected, secure supply of a quality controlled cannabis-based medicine that is safe and effective. This includes provision for a regulatory authority to issue licences for importation and supply and to ensure products are labelled accurately for contents, including THC and CBD, the two best studied cannabinoids with established medicinal value. The Bill provides for the funding of a research institute to improve knowledge about the use and effects of cannabis-based medicines. It allows for legally protected access to cannabis-based products by patients with a recommendation from a doctor to the effect that they suffer from a condition that responds to cannabis-based medicines. Under the regulations for retail licences, labelled, quality assured cannabis-based medicines would only be available from a pharmacist. Advertising or promoting cannabis-based medicines and sale directly to children would be prohibited.

Regarding the benefits of the Bill, its essence is to relieve people's unnecessary suffering from a variety of medical conditions and to promote recovery through improving safe access to an effective medicine. The recent report to the UK all-party parliamentary group for drug policy reform, the Barnes report, outlined evidence for the medicinal use of cannabis-based products in a wide range of medical conditions, such as chronic pain, spasticity, nausea and vomiting, particularly in the context of chemotherapy, cancer, fibromyalgia, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease - the list goes on and on. There is also increasing evidence that when patients use cannabis-based medicines, the use of more toxic alternatives such as opioid painkillers and sedatives is reduced, as are the more severe side effects of and deaths from these drugs. It is genuinely remarkable and an amazing medical advantage that no patient has ever died as a result of using cannabis.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

The fortune here today is not the fortune of war but the fortunes of our suffering constituents, children and adults who have within their grasp a medicine with great promise. Let us now put medicinal cannabis within their reach. I commend the Bill to the House. Make it medicine. Make it happen.

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