Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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130. To ask the Minister for Health if secondary legislation to underpin the access programme for medical cannabis products is being prepared; and if this will be finalised once cannabis based products to be included in the legislation can be sourced. [46038/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Considerable progress is being made in relation to the Cannabis for Medical Use Access Programme.

An Expert Group has drawn up clinical guidance for healthcare professionals treating patients through the Access Programme. These guidelines are available on the Department’s website. The guidelines contain detailed information on medical cannabis, including clinical guidance on the use of medical cannabis and guidance on which cannabis products are appropriate for medical use.

Officials in my Department are working on secondary legislation in the form of three Statutory Instruments. This work will be finalised once cannabis-based products, to be included in the legislation, can be sourced.

Whilst medical cannabis products are not medicines, ensuring that such products meet appropriate quality standards when they are made available to the Irish market is a critical aspect of facilitating safe access to medical cannabis for Irish-based patients. Department of Health officials are working intensively on this issue to ensure a supply of appropriate medical cannabis products from other EU Member States and further afield to meet the needs of Irish patients. However, the Department of Health has no control in relation to business decisions taken by commercial product manufacturers and has no powers to compel such companies to supply their products to Irish market.

Until these products are available in Ireland, it will be a matter for the prescriber and their patient to source the prescribed medical cannabis-based product. It is understood that patients who have been prescribed such products under Ministerial Licence have sourced them from the following Pharmacy in the Netherlands: Transvaal Pharmacy, Kempstraat 113, 2572 GC The Hague. Tel: 070-3469314.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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131. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding liability implications for consultants in both public and private practice who prescribe medicinal cannabis; and his plans to change same. [46039/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under existing arrangements consultants in public hospitals are covered by the Clinical Indemnity Scheme (CIS) in respect of the prescription of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) based products for a patient under their care provided that the consultant is permitted to do so under a licence granted by the Minister for Health under the Misuse of Drugs Acts and where he/she has exhausted all other treatment options for that patient.

In relation to private consultants the CIS covers the excess over the indemnity ceilings (or Caps) set by the State for private indemnifiers of consultants working in private practice settings. Effectively, the private indemnifier’s liability in respect of any claim is capped at the relevant indemnity ceiling and the State assumes responsibility for any amount in excess of the cap. Consultants in private hospitals should check with their Medical Defence Organisations to establish that such organisations will cover them up to the Caps limit in cases where they are considering prescribing THC-based medicines for a patient, under licence from the Minister and where he/she has exhausted all other treatment options for that patient.

There are no plans to change these arrangements.