Medicinal cannabis to your letterbox . . . legally

A new online clinic aims to remove cost and access barriers for Kiwis seeking medicinal cannabis, writes Benn Bathgate.

Kiwis with an internet connection and $45 could soon be getting cannabis sent directly to their letterbox – and all completely legally.

The development comes thanks to new online clinic RestoreMe, the brainchild of Brendon Ogilvy, the former commercial director of Bay of Plenty medicinal cannabis company Eqalis.

RestoreMe is set to launch on December 1.

Ogilvy said the platform aims to solve accessibility and cost issues he believes prevent legal access for many medicinal cannabis users.

The idea came to Ogilvy via ‘‘friendly calls from patients on a daily basis’’.

‘‘The constant theme was ‘can you tell me how to approach my doctor for this?’’’

He said the calls often came from older patients ‘‘too scared to broach the subject’’ with their GP, leaving him convinced ‘‘there’s a place for a specialist clinic’’.

Ogilvy said the site works by having patients register their interest for an initial $45 remote online consultation with a registered GP to determine whether medicinal cannabis is a suitable treatment option.

If approved, patients are given a low-cost prescription and can receive medicinal cannabis through the post.

Unsurprisingly, Ogilvy said there were a lot of regulatory hoops to jump through. He said both the Ministry of Health and the Medical Council had to be satisfied they had robust processes with regard to both who can access the medicinal cannabis, and the team prescribing it.

Patients have to complete an ‘‘exhaustive’’ questionnaire and the process includes accessing their past 90 days of medical records, with patients deemed ‘‘highly complex’’ referred to Dr Graham Gulbransen, one of the first GPs in New Zealand to prescribe medicinal cannabis. ‘‘The GP will know quite a lot about you.’’

He also said the post-pandemic shift that has seen people conduct more of their lives online, including ‘‘tele-medicine’’ consults, also convinced him the time is right for this online service.

Ogilvy added that when medicinal cannabis first became legal in 2020, pharmacies were often charging clients double the wholesale prices. He said that while costs have since come down, price and access remained the two most significant barriers.

‘‘We know there are currently around 266,700 medicinal cannabis users in New Zealand, but only 6% of this usage is legal despite the laws changing in 2020,’’ he said.

Many among that 94% cohort access their cannabis via ‘‘Green Fairies’’, the term for someone who supplies cannabis to others for medicinal reasons.

However, firstof-its-kind research from

Crown Research Institute ESR in 2021 found a mixed bag when it came to quality.

Ogilvy said their cannabis would come primarily from Medsafe-verified New Zealand producers.

‘‘RestoreMe will provide the thousands of Kiwis living with chronic ailments or those seeking new wellness solutions with unbiased health and wellbeing information and advice without the risk of potentially facing stigma or judgement,’’ he said.

‘‘Our goal is to democratise the local medicinal cannabis industry, improving access through technology to connect qualified GPs and nurses with patients for inexpensive consultations and prescriptions.’’

He said the team, which includes five GPs at present, would work with patients to develop personalised treatment plans in conjunction with their existing medicines, and through follow-up consultations they will track patients’ progress, making adjustments as required.

He said the follow-up consultations would be priced at $25.

‘‘If you are prescribed medicinal cannabis during your consult, you can expect to receive your delivery of medicine within two to three business days if fulfilling through the RestoreMe partner pharmacy.’’

However, one medicinal cannabis user who had turned to the ‘‘Green Fairy’’ market, Auckland greatgrandmother Pearl Schomburg, was unsure whether RestoreMe would make a dent in the medicinal black market.

‘‘Some folk who have no prior cannabis experience, knowledge or connections, and have an unsupportive GP may use a clinic like this if they have the financial means to do so,’’ she said.

‘‘But those folk already using illicit product either self-grown and made, or provided by a friend, family member or a Green Fairy, will never go to clinics for an inferior, over-priced product that offers little relief.’’

She said the legal route would have one huge plus for some seeking medicinal cannabis however, ‘‘in order to retain/safeguard their jobs or to alleviate the stress of illicit access’’.

‘‘But most will not rely on that scripted product for relief of symptoms and will continue using their high-quality, organic, fullspectrum products either from the local cannabis marketplace or their own gardens.’’