Tuesday, June 17, 1997
Ill man denied marijuana
use to ease his pain
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By Richard Balls
A Dublin man suffering from an incurable condition has pleaded with the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, to prescribe marijuana to help ease his pain.
Mr Paddy Doyle, author of the best-selling autobiography, The God Squad, and a former winner of the People of the Year Award, expressed disappointment at the failure of the Department of Health to grant his consultant permission to prescribe him the illegal-drug.
Mr Doyle (46), who suffers from ideopathic torsion dystonia, said marijuana had helped his condition on the two previous occasions he had used it. Every other drug tried by him since he first got the disease at nine years of age had failed.
"I found it had a good effect. It totally relaxes muscles that are in spasm all day. Because of my illness, my body works at the same rate as a person in a gym doing press-ups for 16 hours a day," he said.
"I'm on prescribed drugs that would go down very well with addicts. I have always been very responsible in looking after my own medication."
In his reply, the Minister for Health said marijuana was a Schedule One controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977, and 1984, and that there was no recognised medical or scientific use.
The manufacture, possession, supply and prescription of the drug is prohibited - except under licence from the Minister.
Licences may be granted only for the purpose of research, forensic analysis, or for use of the drug as an essential starting material for the manufacture of other drugs.
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