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.

Neoliberal Economic Policies Leading to a Ryanair Republic

The poor complain; they always do, 

But that's just idle chatter. 

Our system brings rewards to all, 

At least to all who matter. 

The quotation above is from Gerald Helleiner the distinguished professor of economic development and former research director for the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development (G-24) that represents the developing nations. It accurately reflects the view of the poor from the perspective of the rich or the wealthy G20 nations and by extension, Irish mainstream political parties, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour by measure of their free-market economic policies. 


The neoliberal (economically liberal) or free-market system of government not only leads to deepening inequalities but ensures unsustainable economic growth, boom-and bust, coupled with the erosion of society. This is very evident in Ireland, the US and in Europe where, low tax/ low public spend, economies implode leaving a trail of human misery in their aftermath.


Fine Gael may flog the Fianna Fáil dead horse but in reality - other than waving the big stick at society - they have never, nor offer any alternative to the same policies that lead to our present economic and social problems.  As can be seen from their website, a PR stunt by all appearances, they don't even offer policies for public discussion.  As for Labour, they're in a permanent state of identity crisis. Lurching to the right to ditch their working class associations, they attack those to their left at each and every opportunity.  They leap to the defence of our ridiculously low corporate tax rate to prove their business credentials, while still promoting themselves as a socialist party - they are in fact nothing more than "Fine Gael lite".

Neoliberal policies fly in the face of democracy by promoting the privatisation of public assets, including state services as an ideology thereby removing them from public influence. Were a fully privatised healthcare system to emerge for example, there would no longer be a requirement for a minister for health. Some may argue that could be a good thing, given our  outgoing minister. What it would mean in effect, is that public health would now be in the hands of unaccountable private entities who would maximise profit from vulnerable individuals.


By ignoring the overarching issues of economic inequality, by refusing to act rationally and move to an alternative mixed (socialist/capitalist) socio-economic system - beginning with the introduction of a progressive taxation regime that redistributes wealth - all these parties are doomed to failure. At the moment Ireland is doing the economic equivalent of spinning plates, our current system is unsustainable.


So what of the alternative, a Scandinavian style mixed capitalist/socialist system - is this either viable or attractive ? 

The attached research report, was published in 2006 by Neil Brooks and Thaddeus Hwong, two Canadian tax law professors for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Having conducted a detailed examination of social indices across a range of taxation systems in 19 OECD countries, they were unequivocal in their assessment:

Tax cuts are disastrous for the well-being of a nation's citizens 

Among the economies studied the four Nordic countries scored more favourably than the low-tax Anglo-American countries including Ireland, on most of the 50 social indicators measured, including:

• Rate of poverty, equality of income distribution, and economic security for workers. 
• GDP per capita. 
• Rate of household saving and net national saving. 
• Innovation, including percentage of GDP spent on research and development. 
• Growth competitiveness as ranked by the World Economic Forum. 
• Rates of secondary school and university completion. 
• Rate of drug use. 
• Leisure time. 

Any party that chooses to ignore the evidence, from these unsustainable bubble economies to mounting academic opinion and continues to pursue free-market policies, placing the interests of private capital over society, can only be described as economically and morally reckless; unless that is, they are willing to support their case for a low-cost Ryanair Republic.