Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jan 2014
Source: Dominion Post, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2014 The Dominion Post
Contact:  http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550
Author: Ben Heather
Page: A5

CANNABIS SPRAY PRICED OUT OF REACH SAY PATIENTS

GETTING high may be legal, medically speaking, but it helps if you're
rich.

Ministry of Health figures show that almost nobody is using the
medical cannabis mouth spray Sativex.

Medical cannabis users and advocates say that with a price tag of
about $1300 a month, most patients were ignoring the spray and opting
for the cheaper, but illegal, option of smoking cannabis instead.

At present, only four people have an active prescription for the spray
and only 48 have ever received ministry approval.

The medication has been available with a sign-off from the health
minister since 2008. In 2010, it was approved more widely for
treatment of multiple sclerosis, but all other medical uses still
require ministerial sign-off.

The low uptake of the spray has sparked renewed calls to subsidise
Sativex and in the meantime, to treat people who break the law for
medical reasons more leniently.

The renewed calls also come as the Green Party seeks to reignite
debate on the legal status of cannabis, with co-leader Metiria Turei
saying it would push for decriminalisation in any postelection talks.

Medical cannabis activist Billy McKee said he gained approval to take
Sativex several several years ago but was put off by the cost.

"It was like thousands of dollars. I can't afford that," he
said.

"They don't really want people to do the right thing. They don't
really want people to have safe medicine."

McKee had his leg amputated 30 years ago after a car accident and
smokes cannabis to relieve phantom pains. Last year, he fought charges
of selling and cultivating cannabis all the way to the Supreme Court
but lost and is now serving a sentence of six months' home detention.

He said he knew of several people who had been prescribed Sativex but
none could afford to stick with it, even though it often proved effective.

Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said there had been a
muddying between cannabis dependency and genuine medical need.

"There's a lot of people who use cannabis recreationally who will say
they are doing it for medical reasons," he said.

But for people with chronic pain and in genuine need the high cost of
Sativex meant illegal cannabis was the only viable option.

"We do need to fund proper medicine and, until we do, having a little
compassion will go a long way."

Cannabis' medical effectiveness, in spray form or otherwise, is also
still up for debate, and some claim it has been vastly overstated.

In a paper published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of
Psychiatry this month, Otago University academics said although
cannabis could help relieve pain, sometimes it was often no better
than legal alternatives.

It recommended never prescribing raw cannabis and using tablets or
sprays, such as Sativex, to treat pain only when all other options had
failed.

But extra funding for the drug appears unlikely. Despite complaints
about the cost, a Pharmac spokesman said no one had lodged an
application for the agency to subsidise Sativex.

"It is not something we have ever looked at but the first step would
be for someone to lodge a funding application."

[sidebar]

WHAT IS SATIVEX?

Sativex is a cannabis-derived mouth spray manufactured by British
company GW Pharmaceuticals, designed to help multiple sclerosis
patients. As well as treating pain and muscle spasticity, one of the
spray's side effects is a "cannabis-like high". In New Zealand it is
classed as a scheduled B drug, like cannabis, but your doctor can
prescribe it, subject to Ministry of Health or ministerial approval.
It is only technically approved to treat multiple sclerosis but, with
ministerial approval, it has been prescribed for patients with
neuropathic pain and spinal cord injuries. Sativex is not subsidised
by Pharmac and, according to the agency, a typical yearly prescription
costs about $20,200. A doctor can ask the health minister for special
permission to prescribe a patient raw cannabis, but so far all such
applications have been rejected.
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