Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Kia kaha, Helen Kelly

Sacha

Sun, 16 Oct 2016 15:55:06 +1300

Some posthumous further progress on medicinal funding.

Alfie

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 08:51:46 +1300

Sadly, Helen Kelly has passed away aged just 52.

Alfie

Sun, 14 Feb 2016 11:01:51 +1300

While Peter Dunne's department is playing silly buggers and delaying Helen Kelly's application to use medicinal cannabis, the NSW government is putting millions into cannabis research. State premier Mike Baird sees Australia leading the world in this area.
All of us have been moved by the stories we have seen,…

Sacha

Sat, 13 Feb 2016 19:07:38 +1300

MoH dicking Helen Kelly around. Russell has more detail to add tomorrow.

Alfie

Thu, 11 Feb 2016 15:08:59 +1300

A Northland woman has become the first person in the country to receive publicly-funded Sativex (medicinal cannabis) to control severe epilepsy. But not without a huge battle, help from a generous benefactor, then a contribution from Winz and finally the Northland District Health Board.

Rosemary McDonald

Sat, 30 Jan 2016 11:14:05 +1300

Perhaps they should have played sport..

A sad reflection of the times.

Maybe we should have an alternative vote...along the lines of

"The REAL New Zealander of the Year".

I vote for Helen Kelly.

Hilary Stace

Sat, 30 Jan 2016 08:32:48 +1300

Both John Campbell and Helen Kelly were nominated for New Zealander of the Year. Despite extensive support neither got through to the short list. Perhaps they should have played sport..

Russell Brown

Fri, 29 Jan 2016 21:30:51 +1300

This evening's Checkpoint With John Campbell interview with Helen Kelly. She is amazing.

https://youtu.be/CFKteXQ4mpc

chris

Fri, 29 Jan 2016 12:31:57 +1300

Or calling a spade a spade

“Northland’s family wins full public funding for GW Pharma spray bottles containing CBD, THC, Ethanol anhydrous, Propylene glycol, and Peppermint oil at a an annual taxpayer cost of $16,000.”

Each 100 microlitre spray contains:

2.7 mg delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 2.5 mg cannabidiol (CBD).
Each…

Sacha

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 22:40:49 +1300

Northland woman's family wins full public funding of Sativex.

chris

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 14:47:48 +1300

*and foreign naval visits…

chris

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 14:16:17 +1300

If it’s not Judge Laura Norder (who counts McCoskrie among her supporters) who’s holding back reform, then it’s quite possibly Big Pharma, Big Booze, or Big Chemicals. Or a combination of both.

It’s Big Pharma.

And I can’t imagine many here would disagree with you there Joe and DeepRed, in…

chris

Wed, 20 Jan 2016 11:32:09 +1300

Hopefully one day soon we’ll see some serious attention given to CBD as a low-impact medicine for anxiety disorders.

Here

While giving high quality products from overseas provisional status as pharmaceutical grade medicines would provide more options, what many chronic pain sufferers need right now is dispensation to import and…

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 17:24:18 +1300

Simon Power is a twatcock
I knew he was a head of wet spackle or something like that…
Simon Power was appointed General Manager, Consumer Banking & Wealth in May 2015. The business unit incorporates Westpac’s retail network, together with small business and the Private Wealth Management division.
Prior to his…

Brent Jackson

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 16:10:35 +1300

In unsurprising news, Simon Power is a twatcock ...

Russell Brown

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 09:11:34 +1300

In unsurprising news, Bob McCoskrie is an arsehole.

This need not have been said.

But it did feel good saying it.

Russell Brown

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 09:08:10 +1300

I stumbled across this just now. It's striking how much of our present drug law mess is down to that prick Simon Power's out-of-hand dismissal of the Law Commission review:

The report says there is "no reason why cannabis should not be able to be used for medicinal purposes in…

Joe Boden

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 11:43:09 +1300

If it’s not Judge Laura Norder (who counts McCoskrie among her supporters) who’s holding back reform, then it’s quite possibly Big Pharma, Big Booze, or Big Chemicals. Or a combination of both.

It's Big Pharma.

As part of my research work in cannabis, a few months ago I was asked…

Rosemary McDonald

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:15:55 +1300

She is my New Zealander of the year!

And mine.

I tried to find a way of getting her on the list of "Women of Influence..."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/women-of-influence/72481802/Women-of-Influence-2015-The-finalists

...but she did not seem to fit any of the categories.

The woman is in a class of her own.

(Dunne is being…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:28:47 +1300

Helen Kelly has always been a class act (in the best possible meaning of the words) but she is taking it even higher.
I was so impressed with her stance on the TV1 news tonight – I hope Peter Dunne feels lower than a shadow, yet he still has a…

nzlemming

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 17:04:51 +1300

In unsurprising news, Bob McCoskrie is an arsehole.

This need not have been said.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:40:06 +1300

I'm too old for this discussion...
– you say THC and CBD and I think Tourist Hotel Corporation and Central Business District
– I fear I must need some kind of neuro-inhibiter!

Russell Brown

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:34:49 +1300

however the improvement in Sleep, and anxiety (decades of high THC I suspect) was remarkable.

Yeah, that makes sense, given the CBD content. Hopefully one day soon we'll see some serious attention given to CBD as a low-impact medicine for anxiety disorders.

Shane Le Brun

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:35:22 +1300

I have spoken with a long time MC user who was making high THC alcohol extracts for Nausea. They rated their "high" when using it responsibly as 6/10. They are now on Sativex and rate it as a 1/10, less mental effect than a lowly diazepam. Of note was that…

Russell Brown

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:20:48 +1300

Hmmm. $1,000 for a small bottle that’s half (non-psychoactive) CDB when you can buy three or four ounces of easily available weed for the same price? I can’t see too many drug fiends chasing up Sativex on the black market.

Especially given that the CBD mitigates the effect of the…

Russell Brown

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:18:27 +1300

In fact, has there ever been a single reported case of Sativex being misused in NZ?

I've never seen one cited.

It seems relevant to note that the British government's Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs has come to a completely different conclusion:

As Sativex has a low abuse potential…

Bart Janssen

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:13:36 +1300

There is also the aspect that most cannabis use is still smoking – which given the problems with tobacco seems daft.

Prohibition has a long history of failure – yet the flip side is that we don't really want smoking normalised in any way. Bizarrely at the moment cannabis use…

Alfie

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:00:37 +1300

Even Medsafe seem to have the wrong end of the stick.
Sativex is considered to be a desirable and divertible pharmaceutical due to the inherent nature of its active substances.
Hmmm. $1,000 for a small bottle that's half (non-psychoactive) CDB when you can buy three or four ounces of easily…

mpledger

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:58:23 +1300

Medsafe have application forms for sativex and information can be found here
http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/riss/sativex.asp

Applications can be for "unapproved" use e.g. pain – not just for the approved use as "an add-on treatment for symptom improvement in patients with moderate to severe spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis who have not responded…

Geoff Lealand

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:20:43 +1300

Yes, she has a nobility that some other public figures lack.

Hilary Stace

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:07:41 +1300

Doctors are generally very interested in bioethics and many hospitals have informal clinical ethics committees where clinicians seek input from their colleagues about difficult ethical issues. I imagine there are some serious discussions going on about this topic. They could also be powerful advocates for change.

Russell Brown

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 08:22:05 +1300

Ah, thanks Shane. That's what I was after. It's intriguing to see how recent this is.

I'll add something to the post.

Shane Le Brun

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 21:58:58 +1300

The requirements were published here http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/regulation-health-and-disability-system/medicines-control/medicinal-cannabis#nonph several months after the Alex Renton case. Hospitalization makes sense for cases such as severe epilepsy, as sometimes introducing THC in any amount can make a dire situation worse, but in the context of chronic pain, MS, palliative care etc, that requirement is over…

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 21:39:21 +1300

Okay: the relevant part seems to be Section 22: Procedure in respect of applications for Minister's consent.

Which – so far as I can see – contains none of the unreasonable requirements listed by Helen.

So I think we're not talking about an amendment to the law here. These are…

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 21:25:45 +1300

I don’t know personally, but according to Helen’s TS post, there are eight criteria to be met when applying for a non-pharmaceutical grade product. While most of them are near-impossible to meet, especially for a sick or dying person, I’d say item 4 (hospitalisation) could be dropped overnight if the…

Kumara Republic

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:29:37 +1300

In unsurprising news, Bob McCoskrie is an arsehole.

George D:
If the holdup isn't the Minister (let's assume that for a second), is it the Ministry, or interference from other parts of the government? I don't want to presume anything here, but it seems that someone is managing risk (to…

Alfie

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:32:47 +1300

Do you know if the Medicines Act would have to be amended to get rid of ludicrous provisions like that – or is it just a matter of changing the regulation?

I don't know personally, but according to Helen's TS post, there are eight criteria to be met when applying…

Sacha

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:17:04 +1300

I doubt it's in any other laws, given routine home-based hospice care involving strong painkillers these days.

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 14:27:18 +1300

In unsurprising news, Bob McCoskrie is an arsehole.

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 14:26:33 +1300

It doesn’t matter how much pain a person is suffering, or whether alternative treatment would improve their quality of life. If they’re not hospitalised, they just don’t qualify. That’s ludicrous.

Do you know if the Medicines Act would have to be amended to get rid of ludicrous provisions like that…

Alfie

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 13:00:59 +1300

Helen Kelly lists the criteria involved with applying for government permission, including this one which must have been dreamed up by somebody taking dumb pills.

4. patient (must be) hospitalised when treatment is initiated (wtf!)

It doesn't matter how much pain a person is suffering, or whether alternative treatment would…

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:26:54 +1300

Dunne’s managerialism here is rather pointy.

It is.

George Darroch

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:23:59 +1300

“We’re talking here about medicinal products that have to be properly tested, properly regulated, the dosage assured so that people aren’t being exposed to risk.”

Dunne said the Government’s focus would remain on clinically tested and approved medicines that were safe for use, while continuing to allow applications for exemptions.…

George Darroch

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:18:12 +1300

I’d like to think that the numerous positive stories coming out of Colorado, and more importantly the total lack of negative reports, are having an impact on public perception here.

I think we may eventually be in the position of having the experience of legalisation and decriminalisation in the United…

Alfie

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:06:04 +1300

If Fairfax had run that poll five years ago, I suspect the results would be very different.

However confused and unscientific the poll may be, it surely provides a small snapshot of public opinion at this point in time. And you'd have to agree that on the general subject of…

Sacha

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:57:56 +1300

“We’re talking here about medicinal products that have to be properly tested, properly regulated, the dosage assured so that people aren’t being exposed to risk. ”

The inability of even seasoned decision-makers to properly assess risks and benefits is astounding. What does he think cannabis can do to patients? Panadol…

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:46:07 +1300

Gah. That question mixes up decriminalisation and legalisation and appears with a story about medical cannabis. It's hard to have productive discussions when you don't know what you're talking about.

Alfie

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:07:23 +1300

Unscientific reader poll results also interesting.

I'd say. Over 6,000 votes so far and only 5% entrenched. Public opinion has indeed turned.

Rosemary McDonald

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 08:10:24 +1300

the best hope for change is making the issue politically awkward for Key.

Sunk, then.

Key is immune from shame, embarrassment, censure, criticism, accountability, etc.

Russell Brown

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 23:39:28 +1300

Okay.

I can only hope that his comments are taken out of context here.

The quotes were reported from a Radio NZ interview – Kathryn Ryan if I recall correctly:

Dunne said he relied on clinical advice when deciding whether to grant an exemption, with the Ministry of Health providing…

Shane Le Brun

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 21:09:58 +1300

With regards to Sativex, Pharmac got a completely different result on cost effectiveness than say. Link:Italy

We also are inundated with patients seeking access, at MC Advoacy NZ, we have brain cancer patients talking to Manuel Guzman and his team, the word leaders on research of cannabis for brain tumors,…

George Darroch

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 20:54:39 +1300

“Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has said the Government will not be swayed by “emotional nonsense” colouring calls for wider access to medicinal cannabis.”

Link.

Okay.

I can only hope that his comments are taken out of context here.

Sacha

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 20:21:55 +1300

Story picked up on Stuff – and good on them for actually linking to the source blogpost. Unscientific reader poll results also interesting.

Sacha

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:14:46 +1300

in speculating on potential for abuse and diversion, I think the committee went beyond its own expertise

reckon

Sacha

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:12:25 +1300

#notalldoctors

Clinical Leader of Pain Management at one of our DHBs argues the case in favour of doctors prescribing cannabis with appropriate scope and controls – via commenter Annie Helm at Te Standard.

His last para makes a good point:

There is an ethical dimension to this. Given that we…

Russell Brown

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:31:35 +1300

As for the idea that people would illicitly use Sativex when perfectly good recreational cannabis is widely available – it would be just as ridiculous as banning cough medicines because they contain alcohol.

Some of them contain rather more than that – and pose a much greater risk of harm…

Ross Bell

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:28:49 +1300

I like Helen's blog, and yours too Russell. It's worth noting that the legal barriers aren't solely because it's cannabis... the same barriers exist for any other unapproved medicines.

We've done a brief Q&A to clarify some bits around medical cannabis.

George Darroch

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 12:22:59 +1300

She's a good woman.

If the holdup isn't the Minister (let's assume that for a second), is it the Ministry, or interference from other parts of the government? I don't want to presume anything here, but it seems that someone is managing risk (to the government, not to the public)…

Sacha

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 12:20:55 +1300

I've seen for myself the difference between use of (legal) opiates and (illegal) cannabis in late-stage cancer. The current regulatory situation is a farce.

I am so impressed with what Helen Kelly is doing for others right to the end. Such an amazing life of contribution. Thank you.

Public Address

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 12:20:55 +1300

Discussion from blog post.