I used to be hooked on painkillers. Utilizing medicinal hashish has been a ‘game-changer’

The drug labored to handle his ache for a couple of years, however Fleming says he then developed an habit.

“I had an experience where I was short of a dose and I felt not very well not having [it]. A couple of years after that, I was really struggling with all of the pain, and I was advised to give up those medications.

“Gabapentin wasn’t hard to get off, but I was addicted to Oxycontin.

“It was nine months of hell to get off it.”

Oxycontin (oxycodone) is an opioid that’s efficient for managing extreme ache, however comes with a excessive threat of unwanted effects and habit.

For years afterward, Fleming went with out ache aid till he broke his leg in 2022 and his ache ranges “ramped up”.

His GP advised contacting the Cannabis Clinic, the place he was prescribed medicinal hashish.

“It has literally been a game-changer to my pain levels.

“I’d heard about the benefits of cannabis for years relative to pain and that it was legal in other countries, and I was waiting for it to come here. But I wasn’t even aware of it until at least a year after it was legal.”

It’s thought round 120,000-130,000 Kiwis have been prescribed medicinal hashish. The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme got here into impact in April 2020, with the aim of bettering entry to high quality medicinal hashish merchandise, in accordance with the Ministry of Health.

Patients should seek the advice of a physician to acquire a prescription for medicinal hashish below the scheme. People with circumstances together with continual ache, epilepsy and glaucoma can qualify for medicinal hashish in New Zealand, and the prices range relying on the product and dosage prescribed.

Some medicinal hashish merchandise comprise tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive, whereas others are manufactured from cannabidiol (CBD) which doesn’t intoxicate or grow to be addictive.

Fleming says taking THC oil has halved his burning ache ranges.

“I hardly ever get shock type pain. And if I do, it’s more like someone’s just pinching my thigh a bit, nowhere near as violent as it was.

“When you get shocks like that, it’s really dangerous with whatever you might be doing because you can’t ignore it like you can with other types of pain.”

He says he hasn’t personally felt any damaging unwanted effects, although others may need completely different experiences.

“It did take my body a little while to get used to it – a few times I felt a bit funny. But I don’t feel that anymore … and now the pain is so much lower.”

Fleming is a eager adaptive skier, and says he’s been in a position to ski whereas on medicinal hashish.

“It does not impair me … Last year I skied a lot at Cardrona, and my pain levels were the best they had ever been up in that cold environment.

“It feels like I can flex the muscles in my thighs. When I lie in bed, I can actually lift my knees a little bit, which is probably a little bit of hip flexion.”

He is aware of individuals can have opinions about utilizing such a remedy.

“There’s a lot of scepticism about THC because that’s what gets people high or stoned. It doesn’t affect me like that. It may affect someone else like that.”

CBD oil – which doesn’t have THC in it – didn’t work for Fleming.

“But I am aware of other people with a range of different health issues, that it’s working for them.”

Medicinal hashish just isn’t funded in New Zealand; there are solely two sorts permitted by Medsafe for particular makes use of, although the Ministry of Health lists a number of that meet the “minimum quality standard” and could be prescribed legally.

The Royal New Zealand College of GPs’ official place assertion on medicinal hashish is that it “should only be considered when all first-line, conventional, evidence-based treatment options have been exhausted, and after detailed discussions of the potential benefits and harms of medicinal cannabis products with the patient”.

The school’s medical director Dr Prabani Wood says, “specialist GPs are sometimes faced with the need to help patients who are unable to manage chronic and debilitating conditions using conventional, evidence-based treatments, and, at times, patient requests to prescribe medicinal cannabis products”.

“However, as with all clinical decisions, GPs need to balance patient-initiated requests for treatment and the clinician’s therapeutic responsibility. The sole medicolegal responsibility for prescribing rests with the prescriber, so it is also imperative to consider legislative and professional requirements before prescribing medicinal cannabis products.”

She says GPs ought to solely prescribe medicinal hashish if they’re assured in doing so and accustomed to the dosing regimes that can be utilized. “[They] may wish to undertake specific courses or training for this.”

More high-quality analysis into medicinal hashish merchandise’ security and effectiveness must be achieved, Wood says.

“Balanced, evidence-based general education for the general public and medical practitioners should be made available. The Government should also start monitoring the prescribing and use of medicinal cannabis products to increase confidence in the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme.”

Doctors at specialist clinics can even prescribe medicinal hashish. Cannabis Clinic CEO and founder Dr Waseem Alzaher says specialists will take somebody’s well being historical past and every other drugs into consideration earlier than prescribing.

“We also get people who are referred from their GP or specialist, or other health practitioners that refer them to come and see us and we offer a consultation,” he tells the Herald.

“We’ve seen cannabis turn people’s lives around on a daily basis. People come to us and say, ‘my chronic pain, my sleep has improved, [so has] my anxiety, my mental health, my focus’. People who are, for example, end of life and are vomiting or have nausea and chemotherapy side effects, they are being improved significantly with medicinal cannabis. That’s what keeps us going.”

Alzaher says some GPs’ hesitancy to prescribe is contributing to the enduring stigma round medicinal hashish.

“It’s been illegal and criminalised for such a long time – of course there’s no research and research has to catch up. What are we doing as healthcare professionals to enable that research? We know that more and more people are going to be using it and they’re finding a benefit from it.”

Workplace drug testing that doesn’t account for individuals utilizing legally prescribed medicinal hashish additionally “reinforces the stigma”, he says – as will new drug driving guidelines.

“With ACC, in terms of funding cannabis, that’s quite difficult for people. We’ve got the drug driving laws that have been passed that are being rolled out now in Wellington, again penalising people for using cannabis and other illicit drugs, but not other potentially impairing medicines,” he says.

“Again, that just deepens the stigma.”

Fleming pays for a regular prescription of THC oil and has tried to claim the cost back through ACC, but has been told there is not enough evidence it works.

“As the only person that can feel my pain, I have plenty of evidence it works much better than any of the other medicines I had for the 22 years before I was prescribed medicinal cannabis,” he says.

“I’m waiting to see what changes happen.”

In Fleming’s mind, he has nothing to lose; he was told his accident would take a decade off his life.

He calculates that if he was still on his previous medications today, including Oxycontin, it would be costing the health system $40,000-50,000 a year – much more than the cost of medicinal cannabis, which for Fleming costs around $3500 a year.

Fleming hopes the “stigma around medicinal cannabis” will shift, and wants people to be aware of the benefits it can have for people like him as an alternative to drugs like oxycodone.

“I can understand that doctors need to be confident about what they’re prescribing … I think people should open their minds.”

Bethany Reitsma is a life-style author who has been with the NZ Herald since 2019. She specialises in all issues well being and wellbeing and is obsessed with telling Kiwis’ real-life tales.