By: Barrie Quappé RN, BSN – Consultant/Director:
The fight of one local husband, whose wife is suffering from lung cancer has resulted in the passage of legislation for the use of medical marijuana in the Cayman Islands but are we ready for this?
Amendments to the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Law 2016 and the Bill for a Law to Amend the Misuse of Drugs Law (2014 Revision) to Include Cannabis Extracts and Tinctures of Cannabis as controlled drugs; to Restrict the Power to Prescribe Cannabis Extracts and Tinctures of Cannabis to a Medical Doctor; and for Incidental and Connected Purposes and the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Law, 2016 now legalize the prescribed and pharmacist distribution of cannabis extracts.
Looking at our neighbors to the north whose journey into this new medical validity and use of cannabis extracts in New York, in one writer’s view, has really failed in what is termed their overly restrictive requirements:
“New York state lawmakers voted to legalize marijuana for medical use in 2014, and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law last June. The new law just took effect on January 6 — but it hasn’t made it any easier for sick New Yorkers to get high. Among the 23 states that now allow some form of legal weed, New York’s law is among the most restrictive. Only a handful of serious conditions qualify for a prescription, and so far, there are only 71 patients in the entire state. The patients are only allowed to use tinctures and oils, which can be vaporized, inhaled, or consumed orally in capsules. Smoking or growing marijuana is still strictly forbidden.” (Owen, 2016)
However, the overall report looks promising as far as the entire United States. The Americans for Safe Access report for 2017 is a great overview of where this much larger country than ours, is at and the challenges they have faced with the legalization of medical cannabis. The medical uses are apparently expanding. Jon Cohn, the chief operating officer of Keystone Medical Cannabis LLC in the state of Pennsylvania, made a case for the many uses of medical cannabis.
“He also pointed out that using marijuana-derived products for pain management could help reduce the opioid crisis currently ravaging Pennsylvania and other states.” (Brandt, 2017)
In a telling graphic in the Americans for Safe Access report of 2017, cannabis has not caused any deaths, compared with other prescription medications, such as opioids and prescription drugs.
“Today more than 300 million Americans live under State Medical Cannabis laws – about 85% of the U.S. population.” (ASA, 2017)
So where are we in the Cayman Islands? Chief Pharmacist Mr. Colin Medford at the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority who currently issues DDA importation certificates noted that in fact the Cayman Islands has already been importing marijuana but for the restricted use of forensic analysis. He further provided that the Cayman Islands works within the parameters set out by the International Narcotics Control Board defined here as:
“The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is the independent and quasi-judicial monitoring body for the implementation of the United Nations international drug control conventions.” (https://www.incb.org/ )
He also noted that any local facility who intends to enter this area of therapy must have a Pharmacist who is registered in the Cayman Islands, employed with their facility as these are the only professionals authorized to order the cannabis extracts, per a medical doctor’s prescription.
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Relevant Links:
- American for Safe Access (2017) ‘ASA Medical Marijuana State of State Report 2017’ [Online] Available from: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3514325-ASA-Medical-Marijuana-State-of-State-Report-2017.html#document/p6/a342925 (Accessed 23 May 2017)
- Brandt, E. (2017) ‘PA.’s Medical Pot Law Gets High Ratings’ Daily Times News [Online] Available from: http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20170312/NEWS/170319911 (Accessed 23 May 2017)
- Owen, T. (2016)’ How New York Totally Screwed Up Legalizing Medical Marijuana’, Vice News [Online] Available from: https://news.vice.com/article/how-new-york-totally-screwed-up-legalizing-medical-marijuana (Accessed 23 May 2017)