It has emerged that the license that will allow treating of chronic pain by using marijuana has been granted. An agreement meant for 3 months was given the green light by the department of health which stated that they could use Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for those people that are in constant agony.
In marijuana, THC will be the psychoactive constituent. Currently, the use of marijuana is still illegal here, but the medical consultant will be able to get the license by applying for it on a case to case basis. They will be able to get the three-month license that will be granted just on foot after the application has been made direct to the minister of health, by referencing the section 14 that talks about the misuse of Drugs Act.
Under the guidelines that were given by Ireland, there is no way that THC would be consumed through smoking. A patient would use the means of vaping or take them in their tea. Under the terms that were strict, the dosage will be administered by the medical professional, monitor how the patient was going to behave and later adjust the dose if needed, they say. Patients will not be left alone, but they will be under strict medical supervision.
Last February, Simon Harris the health minister said that he was going to make the necessary plans so that they would implement a health product regulatory that the marijuana-based products will be available for those patients that were suffering from sclerosis, epilepsy and if a patient got nausea while in chemotherapy.
However, the only thing that was left out of Mr. Harris plan was the chronic pain. That was the reason why the chronic pain Ireland applied for the license to the minister, and the license would be for one of their members, accompanied by their medical consultant.
Because there have not been any formal application guidelines that were supposed to come from the department of health, that’s what led Mr. McLoughlin to come up with one from scratch. That you can quickly get it on the Chronic Pain Irelands website.
The application details out how the THC is supposed to be administered, the aspects of the decal consultant patients, and what the dosage that they were supposed to start with. And the only way that the patients were allowed to take the marijuana was through tea and vaping.
Mr Mcloughlin commented that chronic pain had gotten many people desperate.He pointed out that he had been around people who were using marijuana for chronic pain. For some it worked, but for others, he says they claimed it did not work for them.He advised that one needed to consult a doctor before getting a dosage.
David Fin who is the professor of pharmacology and therapeutics and the co-director of the center for pain research stated that giving the license was the most important development. He pointed out that the kind of development that they had come up with was so interesting, and importantly it demonstrated that the Irish medical professionals had recognized the therapeutic value of the marijuana when it comes to treating chronic pain.
The reason why the cannabinoid is being researched is purposely because of chronic pain, the majority of studies from the clinical studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have concluded that the use of marijuana or cannabinoid can be helpful in getting rid of certain type of chronic pain.
Approximately 20% of the population of Irish suffers from chronic pain. 40% have reported that the management of pain is not easy, maybe because of the limited existing treatments or the high side effects that they will get with the treatments.
Gino Kelly who is the TD for the Solidarity People before Profit Alliance has for a long period been campaigning for the legalization of medical marijuana. His efforts brought the opposition bill forward towards the end.
The marijuana bill 2016 for medicinal use regulation, is in the third stage of the debate and it will reach the level of Oireachtas health committee sometime this year. This remains to be a very important day for those who experience chronic pain in Ireland as Mr. Kelly pointed out.
