Senior doctors write to Government warning against Bill to legalise cannabis for personal use

[redbeard]

 

Irish News

Senior doctors write to Government warning against Bill to legalise cannabis for personal use

Stock Image: Photo: Getty

Eilish O'Regan

 

Tue 30 Jan 2024 at 18:13

 

A group of senior doctors including GPs and psychiatrists, has written to the Government and senior political figures expressing grave concern and calling on them to reject a Bill which they insist will see “cannabis legalised for personal use”.

The Bill is being brought forward by People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny tomorrow evening and would allow a person possess up to 7g of cannabis herb or 2.5g of cannabis resin.

However, doctors represented by the Irish Medical Organisation in a strongly-worded letter said a heavy cannabis smoker would consume two grams of cannabis a day and the Bill would allow seven grams.

They said that Mr Kenny refers to decriminalisation but “this Bill proposes legalisation”.

The Bill says verbatim that it proposes to make it “lawful for that person to have such possession of such an amount of that substance”.

The doctors said that “cannabis is the primary problem drug for 1,225 of the people under 25 years old who accessed addiction treatment in 2022 in Ireland, accounting for 40pc of all treatment entrants in that age range, more than any other drug.

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“All addictions, including cannabis addiction, affect more than the individual. They cause huge distress and upset for the family,” said the letter.

“Cannabis can also cause acute medical and mental health problems, with over three people admitted to a medical or psychiatric hospital every day in Ireland with a cannabis related diagnosis. The assessments of legalisation by the international medical associations noted above is that legalization seems to exacerbate these health problems. Legalisation is anti-health.

“Concerns about the health dangers of cannabis and the risks of legalisation were also recently highlighted by Irish medical professional bodies. The Irish College of General Practitioners said that ‘cannabis is a dangerous drug and a serious public health concern’ and ‘acknowledges the current evidence in terms of the adverse impact of legalisation.”

The recent report on drugs from the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland said that they “would have grave concerns about any move towards legalisation of cannabis or other drugs in Ireland”.

The letter has been signed by Prof Bobby Smyth, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, Prof Ray Walley, a GP, Dr Ina Kelly, a public health specialist, Dr Hugh Gallagher an addiction specialist, Prof Matthew Sadlier a psychiatrist and Dr Ide Delargy, GP lead on addictions.

The Citizens Assembly earlier this week recommended that the Government take a health-led approach to personal drug use.

In their letter the doctors said that in spite of growing evidence of the hazardous consequences of cannabis use, the public perception of cannabis dangers has declined since 2010 in Ireland, among both adolescents and adults.

This coincides with the unrelenting attack on our drug laws by those who have wanted cannabis legalised (while usually launching these attacks via a misrepresentation of decriminalization)

“In tandem with their attack on and undermining of public respect for our drug laws, the legalization lobby simultaneously mounted campaigns to challenge the public view of cannabis as harmful by endlessly referring to this plant as a medicine.

“The consequent decline in perceived risk has coincided with an intensification of use among people who use cannabis and an increase in the health harms of cannabis."

Deputy Kenny described his Bill as a stress test for the Government on whether it is serious about decriminalisation.

He said the recommendation from the Citizens Assembly for decriminalisation for personal use was crucial and it will be impossible for the Government to ignore it.

 

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/senior-doctors-write-to-government-warning-against-bill-to-legalise-cannabis-for-personal-use/a2030956741.html

[Slippy One]

Yes, these medical professionals speak the truth for their pharmaceutical overlords. 

 

I'll pop a nasty pill to that. 

 

Also, limits on quantity are unfair. Should be the same limit as booze. We are adults, after all.. 

[redbeard]

Heard it's been kicked down the road for 3 months.

[GSZZ]

On 01/02/2024 at 19:26, redbeard said:

in spite of growing evidence of the hazardous consequences of cannabis use

 

Where?

[lildaveham]

15 minutes ago, GSZZ said:

 

Where?

Think they may still be growing (making it up) it 

[Slippy One]

19 hours ago, GSZZ said:

 

Where?

Getting caught by a fascist and ignorant drug policy, that's where!

 

I'm just off to drink a few pints of straight vodka while popping a few more Tylenol..

 

Edited February 13 by Slippy One

[Mace_Windu]

Shame on people who wise up to harmful Opioids and stop these overpaid Medical professionals from receiving their kickbacks & special incentives from Big Pharma. It's a Governments prerogative to hate and destroy what they can't tax & control. Nevermind it's usefulness to the masses. 

[Michael Luchóg]

https://www.thejournal.ie/oireachtas-committee-on-drug-use-6298913-Feb2024/

 

THE OIREACHTAS JOINT Committee on Drugs Use should be set by next month or certainly no later than April, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

The committee will consider the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use and respond to its recommendations.

The assembly, comprised 99 citizens with Reid as the chairperson, met on six occasions from April to October 2023. The meetings included 130 speakers and panellists, 250 hours of deliberations, and consideration of 800 public submissions.

The assembly voted that the State should take a comprehensive health-led policy response to dealing with people who are in possession of drugs for personal use, rather than voting for a legalisation and regulation approach.

Among its 36 recommendations is a proposal that people should be referred to health and addiction services where appropriate, rather than criminalised.

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The group recommended that the possession of cannabis, mushrooms (psilocybin), cocaine and other drugs for personal use should be decriminalised.

Given the scope of the recommendations, the government thinks it would be most appropriate for the report to be examined by a special Joint Committee, rather than a standing Committee.

14 members to sit on committee 

It will be made up of 14 members, both Senators and TDs. The independent members will be asked to nominate a chairperson as it is their turn in the rotation.

“We would expect it to be up and running next month or certainly no later than April. There are some technicalities around that. The committee is being given seven months to carry out its work and produce a report, but it does not have to take seven months.

“It could be done more quickly. It was pointed out to me by my staff who were involved in the citizen’s assembly and by the Chairman, Paul Reid, that because all of the different interest groups and experts appeared before the assembly, it is not necessarily the case that the special committee should have to do that all over again.

“Ultimately, it is going to be a decision for the members and the Chair as to whether they want to have everyone come in again or whether they would be happy enough to get it done in one day. That is their call, not ours,” Varadkar said today. 

Varadkar said one “take-away’ he took from Reid is there is a need to develop an Irish model that works for Irish circumstances and not try to copy a model from any other jurisdiction.