Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----or with whom we radically disagree on occasion.

Deputy Boyd Barrett asked about the decriminalisation of cannabis. Canada has voted to do that and it plans to do it by next September. I am aware that a number of US states have legalised cannabis, all the way down the west coast in places such as Oregon, Washington state and Colorado. The predictions from those who opposed the legalisation generally have not come true. It has been reasonably successful in the US states where it has been legalised. It has not been done in any European country yet, except for some special arrangements around coffee shops in Amsterdam. I have no doubt it is an issue we will consider. The Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, has appointed a group, which is now sitting, to examine more broadly the issues around the decriminalisation of cannabis. The group has asked for public submissions and I will be interested to see what recommendations this group comes up with.

Medicinal cannabis is now available in Ireland on licence. The Minister for Health has issued seven-day licences. He has not refused a single licence when that application has been made with a prescription from a specialist. It is our intention to expand the medicinal cannabis access programme, based on prescriptions from medical specialists who are willing to take the risk of prescribing it as a medicine and who will monitor the patient. This aspect is very important because if cannabis is to be treated as a medicine, we must make sure it has the same standards as a medicine with regard to production, supply and monitoring.

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