Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Different countries do slightly different things. If my memory serves me correctly, the Danish programme referenced by Deputy Gino Kenny does not include children and our programme does. Different countries are trying different things because we are at a very early stage in terms of continuing to assess the medical evidence. I approach the issue from a very simple point of view; if one is sick and in pain and nothing else will work and a doctor believes medicinal cannabis will help, I want - as we all do - to be able to respond compassionately, but I must move with the clinical community, with the evidence and with the regulator as well. We have made good progress.

I wish to pursue the points the Deputy made about reimbursement and travel because I think we can make progress on both of those. With the changes I made to the law last Wednesday, it may be possible to now start stocking some of those products in pharmacies for patients who are authorised, which might reduce the need to travel. We have made some progress on the reimbursement, but I think we can do more. For people who are on the cannabis access programme, the cost of the cannabis product will be met by the HSE. If one has a medical card, one will just pay the prescription charge and if one is on the drug payment scheme it will be the same as any other trip to the pharmacy as well. I am happy to continue to interact with Deputy Gino Kenny for patients who need cannabis for a medical reason to lessen their pain after everything else has been tried. We can keep these things under review.

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