Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/849592
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 JULY 2017 5 News TIM DIACONO THE 2015 reform of Malta's drug laws saw medical cannabis partially legalised as a last resort for chronic pain sufferers. However, two years down the line, not a single pa- tient has yet been treated with medical can- nabis because the only form of it which can be prescribed – the mouth spray Sativex – cannot be found on the Maltese market. Meanwhile, a doctor who had started treating his patients with a hemp-based oil has now been banned from doing so. Andrew Agius, a family doctor who runs the Pain Clinic in Paola, told MaltaToday of his frustration at the authorities' lethar- gy in updating the law and at the reluctance of other doctors to join his cause. "There are around 80,000 people suffer- ing from chronic pain in Malta and without this medicine they are being forced to live in pain," he said. "Unfortunately, there's still a stigma on marijuana as a gateway drug that can lead to people into taking co- caine, which is rubbish," he said. The 2015 drug law reform had allowed pharmacies to start stocking and selling Sativex – a cannabis-based mouth spray medicine that costs around €500 per 10ml. To access the drug, patients must be pre- scribed it by either an oncologist, a neurol- ogist, a psychologist or an anaesthesiolo- gist, and must also obtain permission from the Superintendence of Public Health. Agius said that the problems with this restricted legalisation are twofold. Sativex is a very expensive medicine, particularly considering that an average patient re- quires three or four puffs of it every day. Worse, no pharmacy on the island even stocks the spray to begin with. "I have been pressuring pharmacies to start stocking it for months now, but they have told me that they tried to acquire it but didn't manage to." Of course, Sativex isn't the only form of medical marijuana out there – it can also be taken in liquid or edible form and the cannabis buds themselves can be vaporised or smoked. Yet these other versions are so far banned in Malta. Agius recounted how in November last year, his research on a patient with fibro- myalgia had led him to a type of oil that had been used as a herbal remedy, that contains cannabidiol (CBD) – one of the two main active ingredients derived from cannabis. He said that the oil had worked wonders on his patients and many ended up drop- ping their daily cocktails of pills in return for a few daily drops of the oil. "One specific patient was bedbound and had to take up to 15 pills a day. The CBD treatment helped her so much that she ended up opening her own business." Agius said he had asked the authorities whether the oil was legal or not but re- ceived no response until six months later, when the Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci informed him that it was illegal by virtue of an old law that bans all products containing hemp. "Now patients are coming back to me and want more oil but I cannot give it to them," he said. "Some of them are now buying it off the internet anyway, while others are buying unreliable products off the streets. I know of a case where a patient spent €1,000 on CBD oil that turned out to be Bovril." He said that he has been informing the authorities about the problem for months, writing directly to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, health minister Chris Fearne, and the new parliamentary secretary for reforms, Julia Farrugia, who has been en- trusted with revamping marijuana legisla- tion. However, the only response so far has been a brief e-mail from Fearne, shortly be- fore the election, saying that "we are look- ing into it". Agius is frustrated that he is so far fighting this battle solo, with other doctors baulk- ing at the prospect of publicly pressuring for the loosening of marijuana legislation despite agreeing with it in private. "Other doctors are scared that coming out in favour of this will risk damaging their reputation. Some have told me in pri- vate of the need for education on medical marijuana, but when it comes to the crunch they stayed away from the debate. "Even though it is 2017, some people are still too shy to even like a Facebook page about medical cannabis because there's the word 'cannabis' inside it…" tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Thousands suffering over extreme restrictions on medical cannabis, says family doctor PAUL COCKS THE environment minister was to be held personally responsible for the felling of a number of old indigenous holm oak trees in Lija, environmentalist Alfred Baldac- chino has claimed. In comments to MaltaToday, Baldacchino said that it was be- yond belief that the trees – some of them 100 years old – were sum- marily cut down when there were other alternatives that would have resulted in the trees being saved. "This all comes to the fact that minister Jose' Herrera has failed to deliver on his promise to reinstate into law the protection of a num- ber of indigenous trees," he said. "When he took over the minis- try from Leo Brincat in April last year, Herrera told Parliament's Planning and Environment Com- mittee that the protection of trees would be reintroduced into law shortly thereafter." Baldacchino said that has not happened yet, leading him to blame Herrera for the felling of the holm oak trees in Lija. The trees were cut down to make way for an additional south- bound carriageway, aimed at eas- ing the traffic flow – and traffic jams – in the area leading to the Lija roundabout and on to the Birkirkara bypass and Naxxar Road. But Baldacchino insisted that the transport ministry could have de- veloped an inner service lane into a full carriageway without damag- ing or cutting down the trees. "There was already the inner service lane that would have been enough as an extra lane, there was no need to remove the trees as well," he said. Baldacchino said that when he learnt the trees were being cut down he went immediately on site where he was brusquely chal- lenged by the workers when he attempted to take some photos of what they were doing. "They were felling those trees with a chainsaw in what appeared to be an orgasmic expression of glee and euphoria," he said. "They cut the trees about 30cm off the ground, including one that was over two storeys high and must have been over 100 years old." Baldacchino said that the lack of foresight by the environment minister, coupled with the failure of the Environment Resources Authority to take a stand on the matter, were appalling. The ERA, he claimed, had as yet to take a stand to protect Malta's bio-diversity. "It is not enough to justify what happened by saying that the trees are not protected," he said. "They are not protected because Minis- ter Herrera has failed to put into law the recommendations of the ad-hoc committee that was con- stituted to consider the situation and which recommended that the protection of trees be reinsti- tuted." Baldacchino said he was not sure if the transport ministry had also considered the heavy waters that flowed through the area after eve- ry heavy bout of rain. He said that the trees – and the 1.5m-wide strip they were on – served to slow down the water that inadvertently accumulates in the area from Iklin, Mosta and Lija during heavy rainfall. "What will happen now that the strip has been removed and the area cleared?" Baldacchino said. Medical cannabis conundrum: No patients treated yet while reliable oil banned "There are around 80,000 people suffering from chronic pain in Malta and without this medicine they are being forced to live in pain" Sativex is a cannabis-based mouth spray medicine that costs around €500 per 10ml Andrew Agius, a family doctor who runs the Pain Clinic in Paola, told MaltaToday of his frustration at the authorities' lethargy in updating the law Lija tree-felling 'Jose Herrera's failure', says environmentalist