Medical cannabis, COVID-19 and the right to health: have patients been forgotten?

The two largest organizations of doctors specializing in medical cannabis* are calling on the UN to uphold patients' rights during the covid-19 pandemic. Whether in a legal or unregulated context, these doctors consider that the sudden and involuntary interruption of cannabis-based medical treatment must be avoided at all costs, at the risk of trampling on patients' rights, and leading to irrevocable medical repercussions.

While medical cannabis has been considered “essential” in many North American countries and states, in other parts of the globe, many people who use cannabis for medical purposes have suddenly found themselves denied access to their treatment due to the measures of public health to deal with the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the resulting pandemic. And all this just a few months after the World Health Organization recognized the validity of the use of phytopharmaceutical hemp products (commonly known as “medical cannabis”) for certain diseases.

“Phytotherapeutic medicines and preparations made from the Cannabis plant (...) form a crucial part of the treatment of hundreds of thousands of individuals (...) including many with vulnerable immune systems due to serious illnesses, or advanced age.”

Extract from the letter to the United Nations.

On April 20, a day of historic cultural significance for people and communities connected with the hemp plant worldwide, the’International Association for Cannabinoids in Medicine (IACM), the Society of Cannabis Clinicians (SCC), joined by 5 international public health NGOs, alerted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to the situation of these patients, suddenly deprived of their treatment. Given the many facets of the subject, and given that the United Nations considers the involuntary interruption of medical care to be an act of torture, the letter was sent to 7 UN Special Rapporteurs, as well as to the Secretary General, Director General of the WHO, and other stakeholders.

It's true that the pandemic is creating countless situations of risk for all populations, especially the most vulnerable. However, certain rights - such as the right to health, and to have access to the treatment desired by the doctor and patient - cannot be overridden in order to protect others. Human rights are inalienable, and cannot be suspended, any more than for those for whom the use of hemp and phytocannabinoids represents an indispensable medicinal contribution, than for anyone else.

This is why the letter calls on the United Nations to pay attention to this issue, and to consider providing guides, or tools, so that policymakers can approach this question in a sensible way that respects patients' rights. Nine elements are recommended in the letter.

For countries with pre-existing access programs :

1. Declare medicinal Cannabis and existing dispensaries “essential”; ;
2. Enable existing clinics to offer contactless or home-based services; 
3. Provide dispensaries with guides to good anti-covid sanitary practices; ;

For countries where access to medical cannabis is not yet regulated:

1. Instruct the police to stop intervention and prosecution for self-supply of cannabis; ;
2. Immediately suspend raids on personal crops; ;
3. Applying the above recommendations to Cannabis clubs or other semi-legal models; ;

In all cases :

1. Make “telemedicine” possible: online consultations and prescriptions, to avoid interruptions in medical follow-up; ;
2. Extend the expiry dates of prescriptions or other “carnets” for medical users; ;
3. In some places, apply all the above recommendations to traditional doctors and practitioners.

The «right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health» (right to health) is fundamental. UN human rights bodies and officials do not have the power to act or change things directly. However, they are there to document the realities of this world, and to help progressively improve the lives and dignity of all human beings, especially the most vulnerable. Respecting people's right to health cannabinoid patients, Whatever one thinks of their medicines, it is essential to defend them. Let's hope that the UN takes note, becomes aware, and, in the future, is alert and reactive to these issues.

*IACM (International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines) is the reference organization for therapeutic cannabis. Based in Cologne, Germany, and active since 2000, the IACM brings together researchers, doctors, professors and other healthcare professionals of the highest calibre, united to advance the “science of cannabinoids” and their application in medicine. The IACM is well known for its annual scientific conference, and its list of illnesses for which cannabis can be useful, a reference if ever there was one.

Founded a year ago in Santa Monica, California, by Dr Tod Mikuriya, the SCC (Society of Cannabis Clinicians) has a grassroots approach that complements the IACM. The SCC brings together a large number of general practitioners who prescribe hemp-based phytopharmaceutical products on a day-to-day basis, and share their experience and best professional practices.

The letter was also supported by IMCPC (the International Medical Cannabis Patient Coalition), Coalition PLUS (a federation of NGOs working on HIV/AIDS), the ICEERS Foundation, International Doctors for Healthier Drug Policies (IDHDP) and the think-tank FAAAT.

KRZ