Hasson Nahon urges Govt to do more on medical cannabis

Independent MP Marlene Hassan Nahon’s calls for the Gibraltar Government to go further and provide a greater range of cannabis-based medicines were yesterday turned down by the Government.
This follows the government’s decision last week to change drug regulations to allow doctors to prescribe the cannabis-based medicine ‘Sativex’, which in turn follows a period of heightened public debate on the subject of legalising cannabis for medicinal use.
The medicine, which treats symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis, has been prescribed locally on a small number of occasions in the past but doctors had expressed concern about the law, which regards cannabis as an illegal drug.
But in moving a motion in Parliament yesterday Mrs Hassan Nahon said the government’s stance does not go far enough.
She acknowledged that the Government’s move in regulating the prescription of Sativex was an “important step in the direction of embracing the medicinal qualities of cannabis derived compounds”.
“I am sure there are many in our community who are encouraged to know that doctors will now be able to provide this new treatment option to their patients granting hope where this time last week there was nothing but frustration and confusion,” she told MPs.
But, she said, the Government’s stance does not go far enough in offering patients and doctors a more exhaustive range of cannabis derived options that present similar treatment benefits to Sativex.
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