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

The Minister of State can understand why people are frustrated. The programme has been up and running for two years and fewer than 50 people have got it via prescription. This review is going on forever. It was first mooted a year and a half ago. My most recent correspondence with the Health Research Board indicated that this is an ongoing review and will be finished by the end of the year. The Minister of State can see the frustration and what people are feeling.

I am not sure if the Minister of State will be able to comment on the other issue, which is those who get it via licence. Not all those who have it via licence are reimbursed. In fact, there is a cohort of people in a ridiculous situation. Those who have it via licence cannot be reimbursed but the same product is on the MCAP register. Because the programme is so restrictive, however, the same people who can get it via licence cannot get onto the programme and then have to pay out of their own pockets.

It needs to be reviewed.

The concept is good but the programme needs to be expanded. If that does not happen, I cannot see a future for it. We will have the same situation whereby people who could benefit greatly from an intervention of medical cannabis will go without or have to go to the black market, and that is not acceptable. Many people have been following this, especially those who might benefit from it, and they are very frustrated by the lack of progress. Hopefully, the review will support the programme's expansion.

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