New Zealand’s medicines and medical devices safety authority – MedSafe – has introduced its first set of guidelines for medical cannabis advertising which prohibit clinics from advertising THC or CBD products, distributing educational materials about medical cannabis, and displaying signage that suggests a clinic supplies cannabis, The Post reports. 

Sally King, executive director of the New Zealand Medical Cannabis Council (NZMCC), told The Post the rules have “a chilling effect on patient informed consent.”

“The guidance pretty much establishes that all forms of communication about medicinal cannabis are now considered advertising, including patients speaking to one another. The only real engagement is between a healthcare practitioner and their patient.” — King to The Post 

Waseem Alzaher, chief executive of Green Leaf Group, which owns the Cannabis Clinic, told The Post that the rules have “created a situation where patients are more confused, doctors are afraid to talk about it, and clinics are getting punished for trying to educate people.”

“We’ve had to invest in compliance consultants and lawyers just to make sure we’re not breaking the law by accident. That’s time and money we’d rather spend on care,” he said. “As healthcare professionals, we can’t stand up and start talking about medicinal cannabis, about what it means and how to use it safely.”

Businesses that refer to scientific research on, or provide any information for, products approved by the Ministry of Health can face penalties of up to $100,000 or six months in prison under the new rules.

In a statement to The Post, MedSafe said it had consulted “stakeholders” at the Health Ministry’s Medicinal Cannabis Agency to develop the rules but did not confirm who the stakeholders were.

“Medicinal cannabis products are unapproved medicines, and while they have been assessed for quality, they have not been assessed for their effectiveness as medicines,” the statement said. “This means there are controls around their advertising.” 

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