No medicinal cannabis for chronic pain, says ministry
The Ministry of Health advised against decriminalising medicinal cannabis for those in chronic pain, saying that would lead to major issues over its legal definition.
The advice was contained in a regulatory impact statement, released at the end of last year, on the Government’s Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill.
The bill would mean a terminally ill person could use illicit cannabis without being prosecuted while a comprehensive prescribing scheme was developed. That olive branch, however, was not extended to those in chronic pain, which prompted many advocates to say the bill did not go far enough.
The regulatory impact statement said decriminalising for those in chronic pain would be problematic.
“Chronic pain is difficult to define, subjective, and would potentially cover a large patient group (21 per cent of adults experience chronic pain). Extending this proposal to this group would be likely to result in significant dispute around the definition of chronic pain.”
Rebecca Reider, who uses medicinal cannabis, said those in chronic pain should be able to use cannabis without being criminalised.
“It’s great [the Government] recognises a compassionate approach to terminally ill patients is needed. But what about non-terminal patients?”
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell also said the provision for those with a terminal illness — defined as one that could reasonably be expected to end one’s life within 12 months — was too narrow.
“A one-year window simply does not go far enough to cover people with chronic pain and any terminal illness, and needs to be reconsidered by the select committee.”
Health Minister David Clark has said that the bill was a compassionate measure that would ensure no prosecutions while a new prescribing framework was set up.
The framework would set a minimum quality standard, which the Ministry of Health said was better than a voluntary scheme. The bill does not decriminalise patients who grow their own cannabis, nor those who supply a patient with cannabis.
Bell hoped the new framework around domestic cultivation and manufacture of medical cannabis products would expand the range of products and bring down prices.
There are only two medicinal cannabis products available in New Zealand, and a doctor must apply to the ministry to prescribe them. There is no government funding for such prescriptions.
The government bill was softened to gain the support of New Zealand First, and will pass with the support of the Greens. It does not go as far as Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill, which would allow anyone with a qualifying medical condition to grow, possess or use cannabis plant or products for therapeutic purposes if they had a registered medical practitioner’s support.