Dunne: Doctors hung up about cannabis
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has accused New Zealand doctors of being too conservative about prescribing medical cannabis, saying some of them are rejecting patients’ applications because of their “downright prejudice” about the drug.
He plans to write to organisations representing doctors and pharmacies to urge their members to take a more evidence-based approach.
“What I want to see from them is an open approach, not one [which I think] has been based a little on their wariness and in some cases downright prejudices,” he said yesterday.
Some doctors “just thought it was wrong” and were worried about being labelled “Doctor Dope”, he said.
“These decisions need to be based on the best interests of the patients, not the prejudices of the doctors. I’d like to see a more evidence-based and sound approach.”
New Zealand Medical Association chairman Stephen Childs said Dunne appeared to be confusing untested or unknown cannabis products with pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products.
Childs said he would be “extremely surprised” if any doctor was declining applications to use proven medical cannabis such as Sativex, a mouth spray used to treat multiple sclerosis.
Doctors would be “prudent” to be more sceptical of applications for non-pharmaceutical-grade cannabis or lesser-known products, he said.
Dunne announced that he would be removing one barrier to accessing medical cannabis in New Zealand — the overly bureaucratic approval process.
It will be up to the Ministry of Health to approve patients’ applications for the drug. That role had been held by the minister.
Some cannabis law reformists wanted the Government to go further by delegating the role to specialists or GPs. But Dunne said that approach had not been successful in Britain.
Dunne also planned to create a list of cannabis-based products to guide doctors. Green Party health spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter said the new policy was a positive but small step. It did not address other barriers to medical cannabis for people who were sick or dying, such as the cost of the products. Sativex, the only product which has been approved in New Zealand, costs around $1300 a month. The Government has come under pressure to relax the rules around medical cannabis after several highprofile cases on the issue. Former trade union boss Helen Kelly campaigned to be able to use cannabis legally for pain relief before her death in October. And Rose Renton, mother of the first person to get approval to use medicinal cannabis in New Zealand, presented a 17,000-signature petition in favour of legalisation to Parliament late last year.
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