The growing number of medicinal cannabis clinics in New Zealand could risk putting profit before patient care, researchers say.
The majority of products offered to patients in Aotearoa have also veered from CBD oil towards THC-heavy, flower-based products.
New laws passed in 2019, and enacted in 2020, allowed for better access to medicinal cannabis so it could be more easily prescribed and products could be grown and made in New Zealand.
Massey University research has found that access has improved and prices have come down since then.
About 160,000 scripts are written a year and the average quarterly supply has increased by 14 times.
However, the cost of prescriptions and consults for the medicinal cannabis scheme is still a barrier, disproportionately affecting Māori and older people.
Medicinal cannabis is used to treat a variety of health problems including pain, skin conditions, anxiety, seizures, and nausea.
Massey University researcher Marta Rychert told 1News: “What we’re seeing now is that most products that are approved (verified) now under the scheme are high THC products and they are flower products rather than, you know, oral oils and liquids.”
Rychert believes this could bring greater health risks.
“It can impact your memory, your daily tasks like driving, because essentially THC is intoxicating. There’s also a risk of developing cannabis use disorder and even psychosis.”
She said while the products are prescribed in the “vast majority” of cases, there is also the risk of “for-profit actors who may be putting profit ahead of the patient’s welfare”, such as “business partnerships or where a clinic has opened and is a subsidiary of a company also licensed to produce these products”.
The research highlighted that the commercialisation of cannabis clinics was a possible unintended consequence of the law changes that risked putting profit over patient care.
But consultants like Cannabis Clinic’s Dr Wazeem Alzaher disagreed.
“No, that’s not happening,” he said.
“And we have safety mechanisms, for example, like we communicate with everybody’s GP, we request people to provide us with copies of their background medical notes.”
There is a waitlist of about a week to see doctors at his clinic, although a prescription is not guaranteed.
“For some people, it’s not appropriate at all,” he said.
Products cost between $120 and $400 per month on average, but the report points out a potential conflict as sometimes, the business growing medicinal cannabis also owns the clinic where doctors are paid to prescribe the products.
Aucklander Nick Scott, who lives with mental health disorders PTSD and ADHD, uses medicinal cannabis to help calm himself down.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve had any downsides. It’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience,” he said.
“I guess if anything, it may be slight indulgence or an overindulgence when relaxing with a film and some snacks.”
Medicinal Cannabis Council executive director Sally King said in her opinion, there “hasn’t been any indication” here of profit being prioritised over patients.
King said she believed there would be a greater problem for patients if they were unable to access the products at any clinic at all as many GPs are still hesitant to prescribe.
“I’d like nothing more than to see GPs see this [medicinal cannabis] as part of their toolkit and have the training for it to become just as normal as gabapentin or an antidepressant.”
