Written answers

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

Department of Health

Cannabis for Medicinal Use

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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540. To ask the Minister for Health the action that has been taken regarding the provision of medical cannabis to date in 2021 with particular regard to treatment of seizures and epilepsy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55684/21]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In June 2019, the Minister for Health signed legislation to underpin the operation of the Medical Cannabis Access Programme (MCAP). This is a 5-year pilot programme, restricted to prescribing of cannabis-based products by medical consultants, for patients with certain medical conditions who have exhausted all other available medical treatment options. Those conditions are:

- Spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis

- Intractable nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy

- Severe, refractory (treatment-resistant) epilepsy.

On 15 July 2021, The Minister for Health, announced that the MCAP is now open for medical consultants to make an application for themselves and their patients to be registered for the programme.

Registration by consultants and their patients on the Cannabis for Medical Use Register, to be operated by the HSE, is required for the prescribing of cannabis-based products under the MCAP.

The HSE will establish and maintain a Register to facilitate the enrolment and recording of certain data including patient identifiers (in anonymised format), prescribers enrolled in the Programme, as well as prescribed or supplied medical cannabis products.

As the MCAP has been included in the HSE National Service Plan 2021, the operation of the programme is a matter for the HSE in the first instance.

Pending full operation of the MCAP and for medical indications not included in the MCAP, doctors may continue to utilise the Ministerial licencing route pursuant to Section 14 of the misuse of Drugs Avt 1977 to prescribe cannabis-based products for their patients, should they wish to do so. In line with the Chief Medical Officer's advice, the granting of a licence for cannabis for medical purposes must be premised on an appropriate application being submitted to the Department of Health, which is endorsed by a consultant who is responsible for the management of the patient and who is prepared to monitor the effects of the treatment over time.

It is important to note that the medical decision to prescribe or not prescribe any treatment, including cannabis treatment, for an individual patient is strictly a decision for the treating clinician, in consultation with their patient. The Minister for Health has no role in this clinical decision-making process.

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