Mauritius: Health Minister still opposed to medical cannabis

Mauritius's Minister of Health Anwar Husnoo has today reiterated its opposition to the legalization of medical cannabis on the island. For the moment, we are not considering taking cannabis or cannabis derivatives off the market,« he told parliament. Dangerous Drug Act». This position was in response to the Private Notice Question of opposition leader Xavier Luc Duval.

He had asked the government to allow patients whose treatment might depend on cannabis derivatives to be authorized to use them.

Faced with Anwar Husnoo's refusal, Xavier Luc Duval declared, «You don't suffer from epilepsy, Mr. Minister, perhaps that's why you don't care». To which the Minister retorted that Duval wanted his compatriots to believe that the government didn't care about the fate and suffering of sufferers.

The opposition leader reminded Parliament that 47 countries already use medical cannabis as an effective means of relieving pain. To this, the Minister replied that «no patient is currently left untreated, even if medical cannabis is not permitted». «I'm aware that cannabidiol can be used in the treatment of certain types of illness, but cannabis certainly isn't!»

The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs plans to examine the status of cannabis in 2020. Husnoo said he would wait until March 2020 to have as much information as possible to study the subject. Xavier Luc Duval urged Parliament to take a swift decision «this afternoon», pointing out that other countries had not waited for the conclusions of international institutions before taking action.

The island has very strict regulations on cannabis. The World Cannabis March, for example, had been strongly repressed by the authorities in May 2018.