Media Release
From: New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA)Key points
- Legislative changes are proposed to improve patient access to cannabis-based products for medical reasons. These changes are outpacing the medicolegal environment in which prescribers are required to operate.
- Many cannabis-based products do not meet the definition of a medicine under the current Medicines Act.
- Medsafe, who approve medicines for use in New Zealand, will develop processes that will allow access to cannabis-based products that would not currently meet their licensing requirements.
- To prescribe products that do not meet the current Medsafe standards is not in accordance with the guidelines of the Medical Council of New Zealand, the professional body invested by law to ensure that doctors are fit to practice.
- The mis-alignment of legislation and professional standards in establishing a medicinal cannabis scheme means that prescribers will find themselves in the position of denying access to these products in order to meet their legal and professional obligations, or potentially in medicolegal jeopardy as they concede to legislated pressure to prescribe cannabis-based products.
Summary
Most cannabis-based products do not have enough information about how they are made or how safe and effective they are to be licensed as a medicine here in New Zealand. When the medicinal cannabis scheme comes into effect, these products can become available to patients provided they are prescribed. The current medical system in which doctors operate does not support the prescription of products that do not have data relating to quality, safety and effectiveness. Doctors will find themselves caught in a conflict between patient demand and professional obligations.
