“Time to take medicinal cannabis more seriously” says
expert
The Pain Clinic – New Zealand’s
fastest growing telehealth service for public access to
medicinal cannabis – has opened a centre in Nelson. The
Pain Clinic, owned by Medical Kiwi, provides access to
medical practitioners with the knowledge and confidence to
prescribe medicinal cannabis for a wide range of
conditions.
The Pain Clinic Clinical Advisor
Dr Tom Mulholland opened the new Nelson centre supported by
guests, including Medical Kiwi shareholder Victoria
University representative Jonathan Singh, local city
councillors, Rohan O’Neill-Stevens, Rachel Sanson, and Tim
Skinner, and Chamber of Commerce CEO, Ali Boswijk. Dr
Mulholland presented a plea for New Zealand to take
medicinal cannabis more seriously for its beneficial health
benefits, especially in regard to pain management, and for
the fact that so many Kiwis are accessing cannabis but doing
so illegally and without proper clinical
supervision.
“Chronic pain costs this country more
than diabetes or dementia but there is not a comprehensive
plan to address it,” Dr Mulholland said, citing research
undertaken for the Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Australia
and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. ‘It is time for
everyone to take medicinal cannabis more seriously given
what we know about the side effects of opioids like morphine
and tramadol and the NSAID class of medicines like voltaren
and celebrex, and about the scale and complexity of pain as
a health issue in general.”
The Pain Clinic was
launched nationally in March as a telehealth service that
enables New Zealanders to consult online with practitioners
who have particular understanding of legally available
medicinal cannabis products and can prescribe for individual
patients with all the clinical supervision that is
necessary. Anyone can go online to The Pain Clinic at www.thepainclinic.co.nz
or call 0800 842 223. The Nelson centre follows on from the
launch of the Christchurch centre in April, and nationwide,
the service is experiencing rapid growth in demand.
Dr
Mulholland highlighted the huge problem of Kiwis choosing to
“self-medicate” with cannabis to treat pain and other
conditions, with all the risks that arise from taking
substances that vary widely in their type and level of
active ingredients. “On latest survey results, between
11-15% of adults say they have consumed cannabis in the past
12 months, a large number of these people doing so to
self-medicate without seeing a medical professional. That
represents a significant health risk to people and also
suggests that they are not accessing conventional
evidence-based medicines that might well help
them.”
Taking medicinal cannabis more seriously
meant more responsible and careful use of pharmaceutical
grade medicines and other regulated products, and less
illegal consumption of cannabis overall, Dr Mulholland said.
He also sounded a warning on the need for much more research
and trialling of cannabinoid -based medicines. “There have
been intriguing results from lab experiments looking at a
number of different cancers including glioblastoma brain
tumours, prostate, breast, lung and pancreatic cancers. But
the big message at this stage is that different cannabinoids
seem to have different effects on various cancer types, and
so they are far from being a universal
treatment.”
Aldo Miccio, Chair of Medical Kiwi
Limited, emphasised his company’s role on helping develop
a New Zealand industry capable of producing pharmaceutical
grade cannabis for Kiwis and for people worldwide. Medical
Kiwi – the company behind The Pain Clinic – has
established a world-class cannabis cultivation and drying
facility in Christchurch over the past two
years.
“Today we have the most technologically
advanced growing facility in New Zealand and we are about to
begin exporting pharma-grade dried flowers initially to
Australia and then, to Europe,” said Mr Miccio. “Our
cannabis production to the highest standards, and our launch
of The Pain Clinic show just how serious Medical Kiwi is
about medicinal cannabis as a new category of medicines of
potentially huge benefit to human health.”
The Pain
Clinic provides New Zealanders with access to all available
cannabis products legally available today, most being
imported. “We see a future where Kiwis benefit from a
widening array of cannabinoid-based medicines, including
some produced in our own country,” said Mr
Miccio.
Moses Nasalo, CEO of Medical Kiwi, spoke of
the company’s vision and growth. “The opening of the
Pain Clinic in Nelson & Christchurch is a celebration of
a vision coming to reality, strategy coming into action and
a testament to the hard work of everyone involved. Exciting
times and growth stage for Medical
Kiwi.”
© Scoop Media
Discussion about this post