Ireland’s lower house of Parliament has passed the medical cannabis bill and advocates expect it will pass the upper house by Easter, according to a Breaking News IE report. Health Minister Simon Harris is likely to make amendments to the proposal when it reaches the committee of the upper house sometime next year.
“While there are elements I do not and will not support, I don’t wish to divide the Dail (parliament),” Harris said in a Fox News report. “I share the concerns of patients who believe that cannabis should be a treatment option for certain medical conditions and I recognize the urgency and worry they feel.”
People Before Profit MP Gino Kenny, who introduced the legislation, said the support for the measure by citizens and his colleagues has been “overwhelming.”
“I even got emails this morning saying that ‘if this goes through it will change my life,’” Kenny said. “If this can do something small for somebody, it’s a very, very positive thing that’s happened.”
Harris indicated he wanted to remove any references in the bill that could possibly make it legal for anyone to possess cannabis without medical necessity. Kenny said he would accept such changes.
“People are using cannabis anyway, they are buying it on the street or growing it themselves, but everything is open to abuse,” Kenny said in the Breaking News report. “But the pros far outweigh the cons and obviously, under our bill, the person that is ascribed any cannabis-based medicines, they are the only user of it.”