Cannabis education

Concerns that most doctors are lukewarm or lack an understanding about medicinal cannabis are certainly real. Your story last Sunday ‘‘Cannabis use still a crime, experts warn’’ did well to raise patients’ ongoing frustration.

As organiser of New Zealand’s largest medicinal cannabis summit, MedCan 2022, I want to assure patients struggling to gain legitimate access to medicinal cannabis that considerable effort is going into addressing this issue.

February’s MedCan Summit will feature a dedicated one-day Healthcare Professionals Forum which is endorsed by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand. We’ve got a number of doctors registered to attend, with space for more to better equip themselves with the necessary knowledge for prescribing medicinal cannabis.

Prescriber education and product affordability are key to patients accessing medicinal cannabis. Good progress is being made on both fronts with a local industry gearing up, but we will keep working for Kiwi patients. Dr Zahra Champion, executive director of BioTechNZ and MedCan Summit 2022 organiser