Medicinal cannabis has become a fast-growing multi-billion dollar global industry. But Irish people with MS and other conditions are still in a legal limbo, left to buy the drug on the street.
Six months after Marie Fleming passed away after a long battle with multiple sclerosis, her partner Tom Curran revealed she had been smoking cannabis to help ease her pain.
After Fleming died in December 2013, shortly after losing a landmark case against the State to lift the ban on assisted suicide, Curran said he had grown cannabis for his partner.
"Rather than buying it on the street, I bought seeds on the internet and I grew it for Marie, and the results were incredible," Curran said. "You could see within two minutes of her taking it, her limbs stopped shaking. You could see the anxiousness in her was gone because the pain was dissipating."
Curran was well aware that he was risking a spell in prison if he was caught. While the Government signed a law in July to pave the way for a cannabis-based medicine to become legal in Ireland, there are still no such approved drugs on the market.
As a result, people seeking relief from medical conditions such as MS, glaucoma and cancer have no option but to seek out cannabis in the same way as recreational users - through the black market. If caught, they face a fine of up to €2,750 and 12 months in prison for a third offence.
On paper, the Government's new regulations would permit the prescribing of cannabis-based medicines to alleviate muscle spasms and prevent inflammation in people with MS. The chronic disease affects some 8,000 people in Ireland.
Sativex, an oral spray that contains extracts from the leaf and flower of the cannabis plant, is credited with easing MS symptoms and was cleared for use last year. But the drug, which would cost patients up to €500 a month, still cannot be bought or sold in Ireland because the Department of Health and the drug's Irish distributor have not yet agreed on a price. The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics has estimated that the cost to the State would be between €4,500 and €5,000 for every MS patient.
Source: Gabrielle Monaghan, Irish Independent, 05/03/15
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