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

This is being worked on by the Minister for Health. The Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 was rejected at the Joint Committee on Health which decided the proposed legislation was not fit for purpose and should not go forward. Amendments have been promised, but the last time I checked with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, the amendments that had been promised from the author of the Bill had not succeeded. It should be borne in mind that among the major problems with that legislation is the fact it goes much further by proposing the amendment, in effect, of the Misuse of Drugs Act. It does not establish cannabis as a medicine to be regulated by the Health Products Regulatory Authority like any other medicine. The Bill proposes to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act and may have the effect of legalisation. It also proposes to create two new Government agencies, one an institute for cannabis and the other a regulatory body. If cannabis is to be a medicine, surely it should be regulated by the Health Products Regulatory Authority like any other medicine.

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