‘Cannabis meds’ court row

AN OFFICIAL seal is all that stands between a patient with a severe psychiatric condition and medication which contains cannabis, which she urgently needs to treat her condition.

The medication, Bedrocan, is available in the Netherlands and the Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis is willing to supply it. However, it requires an official stamp from the Medicines Control Council (MCC) in South Africa to confirm the authenticity of the approved licence it has awarded.

The lawyer of the patient (details may not be divulged), Niel du Plessis, said they got an urgent order from the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on August 17 in a bid for the medication.

Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen at the time, ordered the MCC to prove the authenticity of the document requesting the medication from the Netherlands.

Although the MCC sent a document to the authorities requesting the medication, the authorities in the Netherlands needed the official stamp on it.

Du Plessis said that in spite of several letters to the MCC, they had to date not sent the sealed document. The patient, according to her psychiatrist, Dr DS Eliasov, is in dire need of Bedrocan, as she is not responding to any other medication.

Du Plessis had requested the MCC on various occasions to meet with him so they could reach an amicable solution on the way forward.

The only response was from the State Attorney’s office, which represents the MCC, for a copy of last month’s court order. This was in spite of the order being served on the MCC shortly after it was handed down by the court last month.

“If the MCC does not adhere to the court order, we will be forced to once again approach the court on an extremely urgent basis.”

Eliasov, in an affidavit, said she had approached the MCC in June in a bid to obtain the medicine. She said her patient required urgent treatment as she was suicidal and posed a danger to herself.