Extension of Medicinal Cannabis Scheme transitional arrangements

The Medical Cannabis Agency has announced a 6 month extension of the Medical Cannabis Scheme transitional arrangements.

The Medicin al Cannabis Scheme (MCS) came into effect on April 1st, 2020 and promised a new era for cannabis as a medicine in New Zealand. The primary objective of the MCS is to increase access to quality medical cannabis products for Kiwi patients.

For some time now GPs have been able to prescribe CBD products but the new rules meant Doctors can also prescribe products that contain THC. So far though the changes haven’t had the full impact as intended. This is because GPs can freely prescribe only products that are approved medicines (there is only one, Sativex) or those that have been assessed as meeting the minimum quality standard by the Medical Cannabis Agency.

Companies were expected to submit their products for assessment over the last 6 months but this has proved challenging. The Regulations provided for a transitional period to enable medicinal cannabis products that had already been imported into New Zealand as at 1 April 2020, to continue to be supplied without a product assessment until 1 October 2020. 

This has now been extended for a further 6 months in order to not interrupt supply of products for patients in the short term.

Suppliers have indicated difficulties in providing evidence to verify that their existing products meet the quality standard, which is further complicated by COVID-19 impacting on the ability of offshore suppliers to undertake the necessary testing to demonstrate compliance. To ensure that the current supply of medicinal cannabis products is not disrupted, Cabinet has agreed to extend the transitional period to 31 March 2021.

This means that existing medicinal cannabis products and ingredients do not need to meet the quality standard until April 1st, 2021.

mcinfo.com has updated its website to accommodate the latest regulatory changes for both patients and healthcare professionals.