Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1011650
NEWS 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 AUGUST 2018 ONCE politicians have ac- cepted that cannabis is use- ful for the treatment of some conditions, and that its benefit outweighs any potential dan- gers, is it not inevitable to ask: why are patients being forced to buy cannabis from a phar- macy, when they can grow or purchase what is essentially the very same substance off the black market, at a significantly cheaper price? This week, a local pharma- ceutical company announced it had started distributing a brand of medicinal cannabis in local pharmacies. The medica- tion – Bedrocan flos – comes in the form of the dried female cannabis plant flower, com- monly known as a bud, and not dissimilar to anything found in the market for illegal drugs. Speaking in parliament ear- lier this year during a debate on relaxing legal restrictions to accessing medicinal cannabis, health minister Chris Fearne stressed that the law would not allow preparations "for smok- ing" to be sold, insisting that the government did not want to risk the medicine being used recreationally. Even Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, in a separate debate on the manufacture of cannabis products in Malta, sought to allay concerns about medicinal cannabis being used recrea- tionally, by claiming that the products developed in many cases would not contain the plant's psychoactive ingredi- ent – THC, the molecules in the plant that bring about its euphoric effect – and that the products generally came in the form of gums or oils. In both debates, MPs from both sides of the House went out of their way to emphasise that while cannabis has several medicinal benefits, and while this medication should be made available to those in need of it, this could not be confused with "recreational cannabis". But like other products which recently hit the local market, Bedrocan flos has a THC con- tent of 22% and a CBD content below 1%. And by comparison, the type of cannabis smoked recreation- ally nowadays can have a THC content ranging from anything between 15% and 25%, signifi- cantly higher than it was just 20 years ago. The fact that the plant is avail- able in flower form means it is being sold in a form that can be smoked, and one which can be used recreationally, despite the impression given by both the Prime Minister and his deputy. But Fearne insisted with Mal- taToday that any cannabis products locally available in the form of a dried flower "are to be inhaled using a vaporizer. The product is produced un- der GMP (good manufacturing practice) licence and approved by the Maltese Medicines Au- thority and licensed by the Su- perintendent for Public Health. The pharmacies dispensing the product also have the vaporis- ers available. Patients are in- structed on how to use the de- vice. The prescribing doctors will be monitoring patients to evaluate their progress." This is not to say that the au- thorities were wrong to allow such products on the market. Smoking is one of a number of effective ways in which the plant's medicinal benefits can be exploited and is also a route that allows users to control how much they are using and to get instant relief when it is needed by taking a few puffs of a joint. As the government has itself pointed out, given that Malta has now accepted the plant's medicinal benefits, the priority is allowing those who needed easy access to it. For decades now, cannabis has been considered a harmful drug and a menace to society that leads those who use it into a downward spiral often end- ing in addiction to hard drugs. This has resulted in society having a deep-rooted stigma when it comes to the plant's use. But by emphasising a distinc- tion between medicinal canna- bis and recreational cannabis – as seen by Fearne's invoca- tion of the GMP mantra – lo- cal politicians as well as large pharmaceutical companies and industry players have sought to give the use of medicinal can- nabis a clean slate by "decou- pling" it from recreational use. This was evidenced in the way Muscat stressed in a parlia- mentary speech that medicinal cannabis products were "dif- ferent" because the companies that produced them could en- sure traceability and accurate dosing. That alone does not prevent medicinal cannabis from being procured legally, and then re- sold on the market… it is weed after all. For what is exactly different from the weed available from a pharmacy and that from the streets? Products produced under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions can have individual ingredients traced back to when they were made and how they were formulated into the product. GMP cannabis will also have a precisely known THC content allowing users to predict how a given amount of the drug will make them feel. It could be said that a cook who regularly uses peppermint or any other herbal ingredient when cooking would benefit from a standardised product, one which always contains the same amount of its taste-pro- ducing ingredient. This doesn't, however, mean that leaves from a non-stand- ardised plant grown at home are in some way different. Traceability and accurate dosage don't mean that there is anything different in the can- nabis, or that its benefits, or indeed potential for harm, are altered: it just means you know exactly how much of each in- gredient is in it. In treating most ailments, the dose required for optimal ef- fect can vary greatly from per- son to person and will require a certain amount of trial and error to determine whatever works best for that person. The fact that it is impossible to overdose on cannabis means that ensuring an 'accurate' dose is relatively unimportant, as us- ers can continue to consume it until they decide they are feel- ing better, while any adverse ef- fects are relatively short-lived. ypace@mediatoday.com.mt JAMES DEBONO AN agricultural enterprise in Mgarr is proposing a new agritourism project in Bingemma, on agricultural land in the rural hamlet. Sunripe Limited, which specialises in locally grown produce from Mgarr, al- ready offers agritourism tours with vis- its to a cheeselet farm, strawberry fields, wineries and olive groves. The project is seeking the green light for seven accommodation rooms in the mid- dle of the countryside, covering 372sq.m, four of which will be over 60sq.m. They will be accompanied by a restau- rant, lounge and kids play area, and sepa- rate outdoor recreational areas with a 92sq.m swimming pool and 45sq.m deck, gazebos and outdoor cooking area. But the Environment and Resources Authority has already expressed its con- cern that the proposal will have adverse impacts on the site and surrounding rural environment. According to ERA the project will result in excessive "site formalisation" through the introduction of hard landscaping, paving, decking, beaten-earth areas and formal landscaping. It also expressed concern that once the proposed agritourism project is estab- lished, there would be pressures for fur- ther ancillary interventions, such as fu- ture extensions, additional outbuildings, physical modifications for the upgrading of site access, resulting in a more formal setting and further uptake of land. The ERA said such proposals "eventu- ally tend to develop into ODZ commit- ments and which would be more liable for a change of use, which is not related to agricultural practices." The PA's Agricultural Advisory Com- mittee described the applicants Charles Muscat and Joseph Muscat, who own Sunripe, as "genuine active arable farm- ers". The agritourism project was deemed to be complementary to their farming ac- tivity. While Sunripe already offers agritour- ism tours, the AAC, however, said the applicants are ineligible to develop the agritourism development, as they are not tilling 60 tumoli of contiguous land – even though they till over 60 tumuli of land in different areas. The rural development policy guide- lines of 2014 allows owners of agricultur- al land to construct up to 10 rooms over 400sq.m, but only on sites occupying 60 tumuli or 67,000sq.m. So far there have been five applications, two in Gozo and three in Malta, none of which has been approved yet. In Gozo the projects are proposed by Ta' Mena Estates in the Ta' Srug area of Xaghra and by the Tabone family agricul- tural land in Kercem. In Malta, an agritourism operation lo- cated in a single block is being proposed at Mgarr's id-Dwejra. Entrepreneur Em- manuel Ciantar is proposing the project. Another agritourism project, this time at Zebbiegh, in the vicinity of the Imsel- liet valley and the San Anton School, is set over 142,000sq.m, and will also in- clude a winery, olive production facility and a bee-keeping facility. In total this would involve new development of over 675sq.m. This application was present- ed by VEMG Ltd, a company owned by Windsor Development Limited, which owns the Park Hotel in Sliema. Bingemma agritourism deemed 'excessive' Medicinal and recreational weed: are they all that different? Medicinal cannabis being dispensed by pharmacies is – legally speaking – supposed to be vaporised. But the product itself appears to be nothing different from what can be procured in the streets YANNICK PACE