Medicinal Cannabis Unlikely to be Made Available to Irish Patients

Amsterdamn based Irishman, Noel McCullagh who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was informed yesterday by the European Ombudsman that he had no right to travel home to  visit his family in Ireland while in possession of cannabis prescribed for his condition, as the drug was a schedule one listed in Ireland for which he may be arrested. 

While medicinal marajuana/cannabis is available for medicinal use in a number of countries, including Canada, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Italy, Finland, and Portugal, it is unlikely there will be any move to make cannabis available for medicinal use in Ireland. Under Irish law it is not recognised as having any medicinal benefits, although in 2003 the Irish Medicines Board granted GW Pharmaceuticals a licence for trials in Irish medical institutions for the use of a cannabis-based medicinal extract in controlling cancer and multiple sclerosis related pain. GW Pharmaceuticals subsequently went on to register a cannabis based medicine for the treatment of spasticity due to multiple sclerosis and their patented drug is also in development in cancer pain and neuropathic pain of various origins.

Cultivated cannabis legalised for medicinal use would is in direct competition with the Pharmaceutical industry markets on several fronts including, as highlighted above, their exclusive rights to therapeutic use through the patenting of cannabis derived molecules. Irrespective of the strong anti narcotics lobby – which is strong but misguided (deliberately so for political reasons) when it comes to drugs like cannabis – the Pharmaceutical industry lobby is, next to the petroleum industry, the most powerful in the western world and they are deeply embedded in national health systems. Also, given the numbers currently employed, albeit dwindling, in the drug industry in Ireland, the government would never consider doing anything to upset them.

Marijuana/Cannabis is a potent analgesic (painkiller), muscle relaxant, anti inflammatory, immune modulator (suppresses the activity of certain immune cells) and is useful in a variety of conditions from autoimmunity, rheumatoid arthritis, MS to cancer related conditions pain, loss of appetite and nausea associated with chemo etc. It is very inexpensive and – aside from the mellow high that tends to wear off quite quickly – there are minimal side effects when compared to some of the cartel priced pharmaceutical offerings for similar conditions. That’s the unofficial version, the official version is it’s dangerous and in light of that, there are more research studies currently being funded to “prove” it’s dangerous than any that consider the plant’s therapeutic value.

A synopsis of the history of the use of the plant in medicine from a review by Ben Amar at the University of Montreal suggests the first documented use can be traced back to the Chinese emperor, Shen Nung, who recorded the properties and therapeutic uses of cannabis in his compendium of Chinese medicinal herbs in 2737 BC. The plant was cultivated for its fibre, seeds, recreational consumption and use in medicine. It then spread to India from China. In 1839, William O’Shaughnessy, a British physician and surgeon working in India, discovered the analgesic, appetite stimulant, antiemetic, muscle relaxant and anticonvulsant properties of cannabis. The publication of his observations led to the expansion of the medical use even being prescribed to Queen Victoria for relief of dysmenorrhea (menstrual pain). In 1854, cannabis was listed in the US Dispensatory. It was then sold freely in pharmacies of Western countries and became listed in the British Pharmacopoeia in extract and tincture form for over 100 years, However, after prohibition of alcohol was lifted, in the US for purely political reasons, condemned the use of cannabis, making it responsible for insanity, moral and intellectual deterioration, violence and various crimes. Thus, in 1937, under pressure from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and against the advice of the American Medical Association, the U.S. Government introduced the Marihuana Tax Act and in 1942, cannabis was removed from the United States Pharmacopoeia, thereby losing its therapeutic legitimacy. Great Britain and most European countries banned cannabis by adopting the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances instituted by the United Nation. Today however people, even cancer patients, can be arrested and jailed for possession and the situation is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.