Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I appeal to the Government to drop its opposition to the Bill proceeding to Committee Stage. It is not too late to change its position. I welcome the engagement with Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin over the past week or two. Notwithstanding their concerns and those of the Joint Committee on Health about aspects of the Bill, which must be taken seriously, they are willing to engage. This is what is necessary because tens of thousands of people in this country are suffering from chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, the effects of nausea from chemotherapy and a host of other conditions for which there is, to quote the experts, strong evidence of the efficacy of medicinal cannabis. That is the view of Professor Mike Barnes, a consultant neurologist who did the authoritative report on this issue for the British Parliament. Professor Barnes has refuted the argument made by the Minister and the joint committee and he, unlike the Minister and members of the committee, is an expert.

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