Medical cannabis oil officially legal

| 21/11/2016 | 25 Comments

(CNS): The governor has assented to an amended drug law to facilitate the prescription of medical cannabis oil. The step by government to legalise the medical use of ganja in the form of an oil or tinctures to treat cancer, epilepsy, or as a pain reliever for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, among a list of other conditions, was confirmed by Governor Helen Kilpatrick when she signed the amendment bill last week. With the legislative change Cayman is now a leader in the region when it comes to medical use, although the law that prevents any kind of recreational use of the drug has not been changed.

Amendments to Misuse of Drugs Law were supported unanimously by legislators during the last session of the Legislative Assembly. However, there is no sign yet of government amending what many believe are draconian laws regarding the recreational use of ganja, which still criminalises consumption.

Nevertheless, facilitating the medical use is a step in the right direction for people suffering from a range of conditions that cannabis appears to control or in some cases possibly cure.

The law was changed in Cayman after local photographer Dennie Warren began researching the drug after his wife was diagnosed with lung cancer. He began talking with government last year about the potential medical properties cannabis oil and the possibility that it could not only help treat and manage his wife’s cancer but there was mounting evidence that it could help put patients in remission.

After waiting for twelve months for the change in the law, Warren described the implementation of the law as “good news”, as it is now lawful for a local medical doctor to prescribe cannabis extracts and for a local pharmacy to dispense it within the Cayman Islands to the holder of a validly issued prescription.

“We thank everyone who has worked so hard to make this possible,” he said this weekend, but added that more work needs to be done.

The challenge now for Warren and anyone else suffering from pain, disease and other illnesses that cannabis can help is to import the drug because it is illegal to export even legally sold ganja, and event though the law allows its prescription in Cayman, it is not yet legal to grow the drug here.

Warren maintains he has identified ways of getting the drug, and now that the governor has signed the bill, he can begin the process of getting the oil here and for his wife to begin treatment.

But the hope that attitudes around the world are changing, with the development of a medical cannabis industry emerging in neighbouring Jamaica and more American states adopting legislation to facilitate its use for medical and recreational use, were recently dampened by the announcement that US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Jeff Sessions to be the new US attorney general.

Sessions believes that ganja is a gateway drug that “good people” don’t use and has no medical benefits. He once joked that he thought the Klu Klux Klan was “OK until I found out they smoked pot” — a possible indication of the stand the new administration will take on cannabis, even though almost a quarter of Americans now live in states where at the very least it can be used for medical reasons.

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Category: Health, Laws, Medical Health, Politics

Comments (25)

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  1. Michelle Erkenbeck says:

    It works. I’m living proof. I’ve been using cannabis oil for 6 years now. My diabetes is gone. Negative effects of hep C and chemo gone. Lost 50 lbs too. http://www.hempcures.work

  2. Anonymous says:

    Snake oil nonsense. Must be an election coming.

    • Nedd Ludd says:

      Not snake oil. I’m retired at 62 and started this a year ago. I care if you are a shill for big pharma or not. It works for me and NO ONE will ever take that from me. There are no armies large enough or smart enough to stop me.

  3. Anonymous says:

    why only cannabis oil?

  4. Anonymous says:

    THC and CDB work in unison.

  5. Thank you Mr Suckoo says:

    Lets remember to thank MLA Alva Suckoo who started this effort. I note the government is taking full credit but it was Mr Suckoo who made the first move and has quietly left the government to get it done. I have a close family member who met with him and discussed this urgent need and he promised to do his part. While the government receives the praise and thanks, I want to acknowledge his role and thank him!

    http://www.caymanreporter.com/2015/10/06/medicinal-marijuana-motion-mulled/

  6. Anonymous says:

    The plant is to be used in its natural form. All elements of it work together for the good. We already have thc in our make up in us, we just need to maintain just like taking your vitamin if you need b12 you dont just extract that portion and discard the rest that work together to let b12 get obsorbe properly…it is whole and perfect as is…stop messing with nature and use them in their natural and full form…thc do not need to be removed and plant should not be genetically modify…nature is never wrong and do not need man help.

    • alrighty then says:

      Thanks for that, Scientist.

    • Anonymous says:

      Nature needs our help as we are a part of it. Penicillin, nature transformed by the discovery of antibiotics by man, the advancement in medical technology that helped treated the ill. We will always use nature to help sustain, as well as transform it to our needs.

  7. Anonymous says:

    In… for research

  8. Anonymous says:

    Let me grow it, I’ll have oil in 4 months, thc, cbd…. You name it I can grow it.

  9. Anonymous says:

    now, just imagine how many MILLIONS of tax dollars we would save by legalizing it all together

    want to stop jam from smuggling in guns and ganja. Make it legal. So it becomes so cheap. People grow it in their yards. It absolutely removes all criminal elements once that happens.

    Half the gangs and drug dealers would go bankrupt over night.

    Less crime, no incarceration.

    I don’t see the down side.

    No such thing as a rehab facility for ganja smoking.

    • Anonymous says:

      Imagine how much the health costs would go up dealing with the zombies and their mental issues.?

    • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

      That is as perfectly said an encompassment of the the issues surrounding ganja legalisation as I think I’ve ever heard.

      Government packages and taxes it. No down side and a huge influx to the coffers.

      Those who do, will. Those who don’t, won’t. Not complicated.

  10. Anon says:

    Alcohol is a gateway drug, not cannabis.

  11. SSM345 says:

    There are a few locals that could assist with this, just need to tell them how to remove the THC.

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