Home > Dáil Éireann Debate. Written answer 580 – Cannabis for medical use [11037/23].

[Oireachtas] Dáil Éireann Debate. Written answer 580 – Cannabis for medical use [11037/23]. (07 Mar 2023)

External website: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2023...


  1. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Health if he is aware that patients approved for medicinal cannabis through Ministerial licence are not eligible for any financial assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11037/23]

 

Stephen Donnelly Minister for Health Irish-registered medical practitioners may apply to the Minister for Health for a licence to access cannabis for medical use for a named patient under their care. Applications for this Ministerial licence can only be accepted from:

 

- An individual patient’s medical consultant, where evidence of an established doctor-patient relationship exists, or

- From the individual patient’s GP where the application is also accompanied by a written endorsement for the cannabis treatment from the patient’s medical consultant.

 

The Medical Cannabis Access Programme (MCAP) allows medical consultants to prescribe specified cannabis-based products for patients with certain medical conditions who have exhausted all other available medical treatment options. Those medical conditions are:

 

- Spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis

- Intractable nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy

- Severe, refractory (treatment-resistant) epilepsy

 

Patients treated under Ministerial licence may have one of these conditions or they may have a different condition. The HSE will only reimburse eligible patients who access a cannabis product under the Ministerial licensing route if prescribed for one of the three medical conditions included in the MCAP.

 

People who cannot, without undue hardship, arrange for the provision of medical services for themselves and their dependants may be eligible for a medical card. In accordance with the provisions of the Health Act 1970 (as amended), eligibility for a medical card is determined by the HSE. Medical card eligibility is primarily based on an assessment of means and is not granted on the basis of any particular condition.

 

In certain circumstances the HSE may exercise discretion and grant a medical card, even though an applicant exceeds the income guidelines, where he or she faces difficult financial circumstances, such as extra costs arising from illness.

 

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