For several years, she has struggled with severe chronic pain due to, among other things, migraines and endometriosis. The pain is so strong that the 28-year-old is disabled. Welde asked to get medical cannabis on prescription from the pain clinic at St. Olav. There she was flatly refused. But now the hospital has changed its mind. The 28-year-old will now receive cannabis on prescription. – I cried with relief, says Julie Welde. Wanted to stop taking morphine The chronic pain was so strong that Welde had suicidal thoughts, she has previously told news. After an operation in 2014, she was put on morphine. She has used both Oxycontin and Dolcontin, two strong opiates, but experienced that she changed personality and became depressed from the medicines. Welde arranged it so that she could pick up cannabis oil herself at a pain clinic in Copenhagen. The wish was nevertheless to have it prescribed from St. Olav’s hospital, so that she could avoid having large monthly expenses linked to traveling down. – It cost me between NOK 10,000-15,000 in months to travel down there and pay for the medicine, says Welde. Striking assessments The 28-year-old’s application was rejected, but he asked for a second-hand assessment from the pain outpatient clinic at Oslo University Hospital. They believed that she had documented a good response to using medical cannabis for the pain, and that she therefore had a “satisfactory indication for using medical cannabis”. St. Olav still refused, and Welde complained to the State Administrator. They ordered the hospital to reassess the 28-year-old’s case, because they had not given her an individual assessment – which they are required to do by law. Now it is clear that St. Olav has changed his mind. Welde uses medical cannabis for severe and long-lasting pain. Photo: Marthe Svendsen / news “St. After careful assessment, Olav’s hospital has now come to the conclusion that it is in the best interests of this patient for the hospital to prescribe medical cannabis to the patient. We apologize that it has taken a long time to make this assessment and that the patient has had to wait a long time for an answer from us,” they write in the decision letter. The hospital management does not want to be interviewed. Better finances and less stress Welde is happy with the decision, while at the same time she believes it is a matter of course that she will get the medicine that is so necessary for her. – I have been happy, but not overjoyed. I expect to get medicine in one of the world’s best countries to live in, says the 28-year-old. She says that her personal finances will get worse in the future. – In addition, it is a security that I now get the medicine at home. I experienced several times that the medicine was sold out at the pharmacies in Copenhagen. There will be less stress going forward, she says. Welde is relieved to finally be able to collect his medicine in his own county. Photo: Marthe Svendsen / news Wants pilot project The left believes it must be easier for pain patients to get access to medical cannabis. They indicate that it is possible to have this prescribed in Norway, but that its use is still far below other European countries. – Many patients choose to seek treatment elsewhere in Europe, at their own expense and risk. Others seek out the illegal market for self-medication, says parliamentary representative Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik (V). The left wants a trial project to be established where all doctors with the right to prescribe B preparations, i.e. GPs, should be able to prescribe medical cannabis. As of now, only hospital specialists can prescribe medical cannabis in Norway, after applying for approval exemption. In Denmark, such a pilot project was started in 2018, and GPs could thus prescribe this type of medication, which has led to good treatment for many patients, says Thorsvik. Ingvild Wetrhus Thorsvik is a parliamentary representative for the Liberal Party. Photo: Patrick da Silva Sæther / news – But isn’t medical cannabis an experimental treatment for which there is too little documentation? – The Liberals want to build health policy on knowledge and not on prejudice. We therefore want more research into and acquisition of knowledge about cannabis as medicine. Medical cannabis is not a miracle cure, and has not followed the traditional path in which a drug is developed. At the same time, it is clear that medical cannabis can make a positive contribution to the course of many patients’ illnesses. Medicine’s risk profile is known and manageable, says the parliamentary representative.
ttn-69
Julie Welde was refused medical cannabis – now St. Olav has turned around – news Trøndelag
