JERSEY should not instigate “knee-jerk reactions” to recent controversy about how medicinal cannabis is prescribed in the Island, a prominent campaigner has said.
End Cannabis Prohibition Jersey co-ordinator Simon Harrison called for “comprehensive” health care, arguing that stigma around the drug had made doctors reluctant to learn more about its use and impact.
Earlier this month, an inquest into the death of David Keith Morgan found that his use of medicinal cannabis contributed to his mental health struggles. It was heard that Mr Morgan, who died in a flat fire, had written all over the walls of his home after months of worsening mental health.
The coroner, Deputy Viscount Matt Berry, said that consuming prescribed cannabis was, on the balance of probabilities, “the predominant cause of the deterioration in David’s mental health”.
The case shone a spotlight on Jersey’s relaxed prescribing practices, with many Islanders using medicinal cannabis for mental health, chronic pain and sleep disorders – which, the inquest heard, went against advice from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. “Open” prescribing in Jersey means that any GP, pharmacist or nurse prescriber can give a patient access to the drug, Advocate Berry said.
But, Mr Harrison said there were “plenty of opportunities to help” Mr Morgan, highlighting “a lack of communication between mental health services, the police, and alcohol and drug services”.
He said: “There appears to have been a number of failures in this case that unfortunately led to the man’s death.
“There should not be political knee-jerk reactions to this case. There has been ample opportunity for prescribing regulations to have been introduced since the Assembly adopted the proposition on medicinal cannabis eight years ago. We need the government to lead a holistic approach to all aspects of cannabis in Jersey, as opposed to the piecemeal and ad-hoc ways of the past.
“At the end of the day, it’s not that we’ve failed to regulate medicinal cannabis; it’s that we never regulated cannabis in the first place.”
Mr Harrison said that, in some instances, prescribing clinics were “not following best practice”, adding that the “main problem” was that medical professionals do not understand cannabis “and how it works on the human body”.
With this, he said, comes “a reluctance to learn anything about medicinal cannabis, primarily due to the stigma” – which he said was “not conducive to joined-up care”.
Mr Harrison continued: “Healthcare provision should be comprehensive, not siloed. Isolating medicinal cannabis to the fringes is not in the best interests of patients.”
His group, End Cannabis Prohibition Jersey, has campaigned to see the drug legalised for medical uses, and decriminalised for recreational use.
