Before the pandemic, medical cannabis patients had to travel abroad to collect their prescriptions.

Patients of medicinal cannabis will no longer need to travel to collect their prescriptions, the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said.

Before the Pandemic, patients, or their relatives had to travel to the Netherlands to collect their prescription. The Netherlands allows the filling of prescriptions from EU states.

Over the Pandemic, a temporary delivery service was set up from April to help patients of licensed clinicians to obtain their prescription. Minister Stephen Donnelly has confirmed that this service will become permanent.

“Many patients and their families have shared stories with both me and officials in my department about how this initiative has made a huge improvement to their lives.

“They spoke about the stress of having to travel regularly and the associated health risks with that, as well as their concerns that they would run out of medication.

“I am so pleased that these problems will be a thing of the past for them. There will no longer be a need for them to travel abroad in order to collect their prescribed cannabis products. Instead, they can focus on their health and wellbeing”, Minister Donnelly said.

Officials in the Department of Health are currently finalising arrangements with The Netherlands on how the delivery and collection process will be carried out.

This news follows the decision of Bord Na Móna not to convert midland bogs into cannabis farms. In October, the ‘Brown to Green’ strategy was tossed out after the plan was developed by the Bord and former Minister for Health, Simon Harris.

The ‘Brown To Green’ plan was written to create an environmentally-friendly alternative to Irish bogs. The board decided to shelve the plan in order to prioritise other short term projects, like re-wettting bogs, to sustain jobs.