Stuff reports
“Torturous” is the word an Alexandra man is using to describe having to wait nearly three weeks for a medicinal cannabis prescription to arrive – a process that usually takes a few days.
Alan Hodge is prescribed a 10-gram packet of medicinal flower for a back injury, anxiety, and depression, and put his order in for the medication on December 24.
More than two weeks later, though, the medication has still not shown up, with Hodge’s pharmacy, Unichem Alexandra, saying his prescription won’t arrive until this week – his third week of waiting.
The delay comes despite Hodge saying customers at another pharmacy in the town have been receiving their scripts on time.
“I rang the pharmacy this morning, and still no luck. I also rang the other pharmacy that they have in Alexandra, and they’ve been telling me that they’ve been getting their product in and getting it out the next day,” Hodge told Stuff on Friday.
“I can’t get my head around the fact that this is an actual situation that I just have to struggle through,” he said.
Hodge, who has subsequently changed pharmacies, said stock supply issues were given as the reason for the delay, but that no alternative options have been suggested or discussed with him.
When approached by Stuff, Unichem Alexandra said it would be inappropriate to comment about a patient, but did say that medication goes in and out of stock all the time.
The delay has come with a cost to Hodge’s health, who admits it has been a struggle for himself and his children.
“I have got my kids here. We haven’t been going out and doing things. I am sort of bed-bound, you know. I am struggling to cook meals and things like that, and just to get around in general.”
“Every morning it is the same thing. It’s just a slow degradation of my mental and physical health.”
According to data released in 2022 by the NZ Drug Foundation, there are over 260,000 users of medicinal cannabis in New Zealand.
