Drugs law draft allows for cannabis extracts
(CNS): Government has published the much-anticipated changes to the Misuse of Drugs Law to provide for the importation and dispensing of cannabis oil under prescription by a doctor for medical purposes. The public now has more than 21 days to comment on the amendment before it is excepted to be debated in the Legislative Assembly towards the end of next month, when the country’s politicians are expected to next meet. The amendment allows for doctors to prescribe, administer or supply “cannabis extracts and tinctures of cannabis”.
If the law has smooth passage, which is expected as it has political support, Cayman will become the first country in the region – even ahead of Jamaica — to create a functioning medical cannabis regime.
The government’s plans to legalise the oil were announced in May as a result of a petition made by Dennie Warren on behalf of his wife.
Following publication of the law, Warren said,“We appreciate the government being willing to allow the law to be changed to allow cannabis extracts by prescription. We also need the government to wave the 21-day requirement for the bill and call an emergency meeting of the Legislative Assembly to approve the bill immediately. Cancer patients need urgent access especially and others do also.”
While Premier Alden McLaughlin has said he is fully supportive, he said recently that the plan to legalise the use of the oil had met with some opposition in the medical community.
While there is mounting anecdotal evidence that the oil can help in the treatment of cancer, epilepsy, crohne’s disease, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and a host of other serious medical conditions, the drug has not been part of the full-scale research and tests required of pharmaceuticals.
However, although there is no FDA approval, the natural extract has been used by man for millennia and there has never been a single documented case of anyone overdosing or dying from side effects, something experts say is virtually impossible.
Alongside changes to the Misuse of Drugs Law, government will also need to change the customs law and the pharmacy regulations before the oil can be legally imported by medical professionals and then prescribed.
Category: Health, Laws, Medical Health, Politics
I wonder what the costs will be like?
It’s good to see the government is willing to allow people to have cannabis oil, but I wish they would change the law faster.
For all the pot heads it is for medicinal use not recreational use. This means that those that are currently abusing the drug will remain so criminally. Using marijuana for ‘personal’ use is no different than someone obtaining and using any prescription drug without a prescription to make them feel good.
You can tell you’re the popping pill kinda guy. Grow a pair buddy!
In the first week after enactment, thousands of potheads will just go to their doctor for a Rx for medical grade pot for their “stress and anxiety”. The law also empowers Cabinet to make regulations for importation, transport, storage and dispensing of cannabis oil. They along with DoA will be growing and/or importing volumes and enriching all of their politically-connected pals. It will also somewhat legitimize the prolific narcotic trafficking through our waters which provides so many jobs and prison sentences to Caymanians. Our narco state status will probably put added pressure on the few remaining USD correspondent banking relationships that remain open. Financial Services Industry should brace for that.
Cannabis is a part of you, your body is hot wired to receive cannabinoids as you have receptors all over. Check out this short very informative video about Cannabis and your health and how a corrupt US government stole this plant from the public eye to line the lucrative pockets of the pharmaceutical industry and the cancer industry as also exposed in http://www.thetruthaboutcancer.com showing over 100 drs scientists from all over the world and testimonies of healed cancer patients – also check out:
https://www.facebook.com/mmjdoctors/videos/10153736774936843/?pnref=story
Source: https://youtu.be/aWXuaMXfbJA
Excellent video and article – finally the truth is exposed for all to see and hear
Agree. The thetruthaboutcancer documentary is a MUST to watch. It will change the way you think about cancer and its treatments.
Jerry Day is a paid infomercial pitchman from Burbank with no scientific or medical credentials, just as Rick Simpson is an elderly grade 9 school dropout from rural Nova Scotia. Neither of these goons should be dispensing medical advice. Bad enough that there are enthusiastic pothead conspiracists lapping up unsubstantiated Internet claims, now we have our Cabinet willing to bet hard and inadvertently risk our access to the international payments system. Maybe following Cabinet logic, we should send Billy Mays to speak for us on Cayman Finance matters, or put the creepy Trivago guy in charge of DoT ads?
Hold your breath. Just because it is published as a Bill it does not mean it will be tabled in the LA. We have many Bills out there which have not yet made it to the LA
Can we decriminalize cannabis already? Its about time we stop ruining people’s lives.
A step in the right direction. I am praying to Jah that one day they will eventually legalize the herbs in Cayman. You zimmi?
It is well known that CBD has the unintended effect of inhibiting the cytochrome P-450 enzyme system – the system within the liver that is responsible for metabolizing 90 percent of drugs consumed. If a doctor (or a different doctor) has already prescribed medications there could be potential for interactions with cannabidiol, that our Legislative Assembly is simply not equipped to understand. These include: steroids, HMG CoA reductase inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, antihistamines, prokinetics, HIV antivirals, immune modulators, benzodiazepines, anti-arrythmics, antibiotics, anesthetics, anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, anti-epileptics, beta blockers, PPIs, NSAIDS, Angiotension II Blockers, oral hypoglycemic agents, sulfonyluras and a long list of other catalogued interactions. Importantly, this also includes a catalog of targeted drug therapies prescribed in late stage cancers (post chemo/radiation) where one of the common gene mutations has occurred (i.e. EGFR, ALK, or ROS1 genes) and where cancer may have spread to other regions.
@2:47 pm
what are you trying to say?
Drug interactions? I don’t think any doctor in the Cayman Islands knows or will know in a near future what you have written about in your comment and what to do about it.
If this country is going to allow legal use of marijuana to treat people, they’ll need to bring a certified and experienced doctor on board and those are few and far between.
An “average” doctor might be willing and able to prescribe cannabis after it is legalized, but their knowledge of drug interactions are limited to those written in a package insert and I doubt it would warn about interactions with medical marijuana.
Take steroids for example, those prescribed by doctors and used by bodybuilders. Have you ever been warned about “steroid psychosis”? A rare, but real, at times irreversible side effect? Google for your own safety.
That cannibal-murderer in Juniper FL most certainly was in a psychotic state, they just have not figured out yet what drugs have caused it. My bet he was on steroids.
What I am trying to say here is that one have to educate himself thoroughly on how to use marijuana for medical purposes, not to assume that doctor will tell him everything he needs to know.
Cannibal was on flakka, a derivative of bath salts. This is as well known as the limitations of the liver. Injecting homemade Simpson oil in your rectum, whether it works or not, may counteract or synergize with other medication that was legally prescribed. This is correct medical advice and is disclosed on almost every CBD website. Google it.
I’m former member of the (RCIPS) and currently living overseas in Canada. Many people in Canada have to realized the true potential of the drug and doctors here in Canada have been administering the drug and receivin wonderful success for various illness.
The drug as become so popular here ..that the government of Canada started it’s own farming of the drug to treat illness. As a member of the law enforcement society I applaud the Cayman islands Government for this bold move and congratulate those responsible for lobbing the Government to do so.
I believe there is enough evidence and literature out there to support such a move, so no one should be questioning if the decision is the right one. I am of the opinion that 21 days of vetting should be by pass and special sitting of the house debate this draft and the full success of it going into law.
This will not only help those that are inneed at the moment but could very well be a possible revenue source for the island as many of the individual here who take the drugs are retirees, which could open the door for door for new way of life on the island.
Mr. Minister Mclaughlin and the PPM administration congratulations on bold move. A JOB WELL DONE
Thank you. Agree that there is enough evidence to support the benefical effects of cannabidiol. I know personally people who want to benefit from it. They don’t want to be criminals. They just want to live. Why should we deny them the chance to keep on living?
To the extent that there are few human clinical studies on dosage, nor consistent certified products, nor any countries from which we can legally import the oil, CBD might accelerate the demise of some patients from interactions to drugs already prescribed. The hypocratic oath that modern western doctors subscribe to states: “Primum non nocere”, or “first, do no harm”. Witch doctors and bush medicine practitioners do not adhere to the same standard – do we want our reputation as a medical destination to devolve to that level of care?
“. . . public now has more than 21 days to comment on the amendment before it is excepted to be debated in the Legislative Assembly”
In this part of the sentence do we mean accepted rather than excepted?
I think it should read “expected”…
But we were told on the talk shows that only a tweak of a regulation was needed.
Guess we should always rely on the experts.
Those talk shows and guests owe the staff of the Ministry of Health an apology.
Soon come, right after their apology for CarePay.
I’m yet to be convinced that this is a cure all as people claim! As long as it’s been around the one or two stories floating around is NOT convincing!
@12:31 pm
Nobody forces you to use it. Extend your life with chemo, surgery and radiation.
This should happen as soon as possible and they shouldnt stop at that. Full legalisation is needed after the medicinal aspect are sorted out.
It is widely used throughout the island…I thought the law already had been passed!
Lol, you think people give a damn about someone telling them they can’t use a naturally occuring herb.