Medical Cannabis Awareness NZ

“MCANZ”

Rebuttal to Prime Minister “where is the compassion?”

On Duncan Garner’s Radio show Monday morning, our Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction with the current special approvals scheme.

Just 2 days before an Oncologist on the TV3 show “The Nation” suggested that about half his Cancer patients were using Cannabis. It would be safe to assume that none of them were using legal options as they were not cost effective. Sativex contains perhaps $180 dollars equivalent of Raw Cannabis, for the cost of over $1000

“Currently perhaps 1 per 100,000 people are accessing Medical Cannabis legally” “If a doctor is accepting widespread Cannabis use in his patient population, with no effort put into trying to help them go legal then the patients are at the mercy of police discretion” “The police have shown no ability to think of the public interest and discretion around Cannabis based offences for patients, just this weekend they seized a Tetraplegic’s Personal Cannabis supply, how does that make the community safer? how does the community feel about that? “ ”The current system simply isn’t working and is anything but compassionate, MCANZ doesn’t advocate for terminal patients, as they generally die before the product is in their hands, as has happened to a toddler last year who died the week he was scheduled to start on Sativex” Says MCANZ Coordinator Shane Le Brun MCANZ would like to see a domestic market developed for Cannabis based Medicines to a high standard, without the need for expensive clinical trials.

“Cannabis based products are relatively simple, It’s just another Essential Oil” “The Current regime ensures that only expensive products will be acceptable, and that means patients will continue to break the law with the support of their specialists, and making criminals of otherwise law abiding citizens” Says MCANZ Coordinator Shane Le Brun The domestic market in Canada is considered by MCANZ to be the closest model to ideal, where products are prescribed by GPs, and the cost per mg of active ingredients are 80% less of what is paid in New Zealand currently. Nevertheless, MCANZ is committed to advocating for patients for legal access in the current system, and is responsible for 3 of the 7 Nonpharmaceutical grade product approvals ever granted in New Zealand, with more in the pipeline, including for children with severe Epilepsy, whose stories we hope to share with New Zealand in the coming months.

Sources

http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Thats-a-no-to-doctors-prescribing-medical-cannabis---Bill-English-on-The-AM-Show/tabid/504/articleID/138932/Default.aspx

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/91117249/mother-in-panic-attack-over-tetraplegic-sons-missingcarers

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2017/03/debate-over-dope.html

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