Medicine containing cannabis can be imported legally and the drug laws have long made an exception for this, according to Attorney General Peter Grech.
He confirmed what Labour MP and former health minister Godfrey Farrugia said, that importing medicinal cannabis did not require a change in the law.
Dr Farrugia recently called on the government to consider medicinal cannabis as a strictly controlled alternative form of therapy for certain disease, such as multiple sclerosis.
The proposal raised questions as to whether this required changing the otherwise very strict drug laws.
But Dr Grech shot down the concern. “There is no absolute legal prohibition for medicine containing cannabis to be imported into Malta since the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance makes an exception in respect of medicinal preparations of the plant cannabis.”
The 1939 law, which was amended in 1980, does not define what a medicinal preparation containing cannabis is but carries a definition of “medicinal opium”, raw opium that has been processed and adapted for medicinal use according to British Pharmacopoeia, a medicine standard.
Any interpretation on what constitutes medicinal cannabis will most probably factor in the definition for medicinal opium but Dr Grech insisted that every case had to be assessed on its own merits to determine whether the particular product under review was actually a medicinal preparation as intended by law.
‘Cases must be taken on merit’
“Such an exercise may also involve considerations related to propensity for abuse and available alternatives, which the Medicines Authority would be better placed to evaluate,” he said, adding no such matter had ever been referred to his office for consideration.
Medicines sold in Malta must have a market authorisation issued by the Medicines Authority, which evaluates the safety of all products before they are put on the market.
Authority chairman Anthony Serracino Inglott, a pharmacist, said no request for market authorisation for medicine containing cannabis had ever been filed.
“We will treat any application for the importation of medicinal cannabis within the same rules of safety, quality and efficacy as any other medicine. If there are doubts about the legality or medical claims we will seek expert advice,” he said.
Aware that the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance made an exception for medical preparations involving cannabis, Prof. Serracino Inglott said legal advice would probably be sought on the interpretation.
The availability of cannabis medicine in Malta will likely depend on whether medicinal importers feel there is a strong enough market to go through the registration process.
But in the absence of anybody bothering to seek market authorisation individuals can seek permission to bring their own medicine.
Prof. Serracino Inglott said there have been individual cases where authorisation to import medicines not registered in Malta was granted.
“This has not happened for any case involving medical cannabis but we have had individuals whose doctors made a case for a particular medicine to be allowed entry and authorisation was granted,” he said.
However, in such circumstances, the matter would fall within the competence of the Superintendent for Public Health, he pointed out.
Medical cannabis can be used to treat loss of appetite that causes weight loss in people with AIDS, severe nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy and to relieve muscle spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients (see left). It can take the form of pills or an oral spray.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com