Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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3038. To ask the Minister for Health when the HSE applied for and was granted licences for the importation of medicinal cannabis products; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40082/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The HSE has not applied for a licence for the importation of cannabis-based products. 

Under the Ministerial licensing system pursuant to Section 14 of the Misuse of Drugs Act the treating clinician is licensed to import a cannabis-based product.

In the Medical Cannabis Access Programme a prospective supplier can apply to the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), on behalf of the Minister, to have a product considered for inclusion in the Schedule of ‘specified controlled drugs’  in the Misuse of Drugs (Prescription and Control of Supply of Cannabis for Medical Use) Regulations 2019. As specified controlled drugs will fall under schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2017, a controlled drugs licence, processed by the HPRA, on behalf of the Minister, is also required by the prospective supplier for possession, supply or import of such cannabis products.