John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this debate. I have severe reservations about the Bill. My background is in pharmacy. I have had the opportunity through my working career to encounter issues such as those raised by Deputy O'Reilly, for example, teratogenic problems among mothers who are on Epilim, people becoming chronically addicted to benzodiazepines, and people who have been using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs, for depression and either cannot get off them or, if they try, the side effects are worse than the original depressive effects.

As legislators, we are considering politically based treatment and prescribing, but I am not sure that we are fully qualified to do that. I have no issue with debating medicinal cannabis in the Chamber and getting its use, given that it can be of great benefit, but the way to do so is through compassionate access programmes. When we are fully satisfied on the safety of any drug, I am happy to have it used. When I say "safety", I am referring to standard procedures. It is through double-blind randomised trials that one finds out whether a drug is useful and safe. Any amount of testing must be done before it gets into the public domain. That is as it should be. The reason for this is that, in the 1960s, a drug called thalidomide was taken by women for morning sickness, but it had untold consequences. That is why this whole area has tightened up significantly.

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