Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In the new year, the first Irish patients will finally get access to medicinal cannabis products. This is to be welcomed. More than 40 people, however, still have to leave the country to collect their prescriptions. Reimbursement is not guaranteed and it would seem to be very arbitrary when it comes to the criteria. One such person, Ms Pamela Fowler, has given me permission to speak about her son today. Ryan Fowler has a condition called Gardner's syndrome, with desmoid fibrosis, and his family was granted a ministerial licence this summer. They were told some weeks ago, however, in a letter they received, that his prescription would not be reimbursed. Ryan's mother has said to me that his life has been transformed because of cannabis due to the chronic pain he goes through. He is now faced, however, with the prospect of not being able to afford the prescription. How is this fair?

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