The report reveals
The Government has removed restrictions on medicinal cannabis meaning Kiwis will now be able to get it from their doctor.
New ZealandAssociate Health minister Peter Dunne made the announcement this Friday morning.
He announced the Ministry of Health would no longer need to approve the use cannabis product cannabidiol (CBD) for individual cases.
The change would come into effect in about two months, after Dunne had signed a new regulation.
Dunne said CBD was a substance found in cannabis that had potential therapeutic value but had little or no psychoactive properties.
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Any new regulation and removing of restrictions on medicinal cannabis was a huge bonus, but CBD was “only half the plant”, and Renton planned to keep campaigning until full regulated medicinal cannabis was available across the board.
At present using CBD products for therapeutic use is an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act unless approval is given by the Ministry of Health.
Dunne said he had taken advice from advisors that CBD should not be a controlled drug.
“Cabinet has now accepted my recommendation to make this change,” he said.
“Therefore, I am now taking steps to remove restrictions accordingly.
“In practical terms, the changes mean CBD would be able to be prescribed by a doctor to their patient and supplied in a manner similar to any other prescription medicine.”
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Not all doctors would be happy to prescribe the drugs, either, Bell said.
“There remains scepticism within the medical profession around cannabis-based medicine, so a patient is still going to have to convince a doctor to do a prescription … they [doctors] may not be willing to write that prescription.”
Dunne had made a “very good decision”, but the job wasn’t done, Bell said. CBD was not the only therapeutic element to cannabis, and there were likely to be conditions that would benefit from a range of CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
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