MEDICAL cannabis can help those with mental health issues, a patient, advocacy group and a professor said.

A 33-year old female patient who was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in 2018, said it has helped her live a normal life.

Requesting anonymity, she told The Malaysian Insight that she started using medical cannabis after her diagnosis by a private hospital.

“Self-treatment using medical cannabis helped my life to function as usual.

“It is more cost-effective than conventional methods in health institutions.

“I was given hospital medicine but it was expensive, costing between RM600 and RM700, not including therapy and consultation sessions.

“But when I self-treat I feel assured that I am using a natural product, God’s creation. It doesn’t come from the laboratory,” the woman from Sarawak said.

She said she has had suicidal thoughts when her family did not support her when dealing with her mental health issues.

“My whole support system turned away from me. There were times I thought of suicide.

“Do I have to commit suicide for them to understand (my illness)? That’s what makes me most upset,” she said.

She felt improvements after using medical cannabis, such as experiencing better sleep.

She said she was aware that it could cause addiction and welcomed the government’s moves to discuss legal acceptance of medical cannabis as an alternative treatment with regulations.

“Have mercy, we are the ones who really need it,” she said.

In Malaysia, the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 punishes anyone with hanging if they are convicted of distributing 200 grams of cannabis.

Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes and research in 2018.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on April 6 said Malaysia was exploring a similar move but first needed clinical studies on the use of cannabis in medicine. However, he said the Health Ministry has not received any complete clinical study on medical cannabis to date.

Malaysian Society of Awareness (Masa) chairman Harish Kumar Thanabalan said his party would continue to fight for mentally ill patients to get permission to use cannabis, commonly known as ganja.

Harish said they have plans to launch a petition soon to raise public awareness and support for this method of mental health treatment.

“There are studies done in the United States, there are systems that we can follow. We have a basis to start a petition.”

Masa was established in 2018 to educate and provide awareness on the use of cannabis as an alternative treatment for mental illness in the country.

Since its formation, Masa also said it had held a series of meetings with ministries and government agencies involved to provide explanations and submit working papers on cannabis and medicine.

“We have met government agencies and so on but there are still no results,” Harish said.

Alternative

Meanwhile, neuroscience researcher at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Assoc Prof Dr Mohamad Aris Mohd Moklas confirmed that there are studies abroad showing that the use of cannabis can reduce emotional stress.

“Cannabis is said to be able to reduce pain, there are also claims that it is an antidepressant, although these are anecdotal accounts by cannabis users.

“Existing medical data and studies are not conclusive because overseas studies showed that cannabis is more of an alternative treatment, they are rarely used and prescribed as a medicine in hospitals,” he said, when contacted by The Malaysian insight.

“But there are some countries that give flexibility to their citizens to take certain doses of cannabis,” he added.

“Cannabis is claimed to have many uses if used as an alternative but we in the medical field need evidence, compared to alternatives that use testimonials,” he said.

The United Nations (UN) Narcotic Drugs Commission (CND) in December 2020 reclassified cannabis and removed it from the list of drugs that can cause death and create addiction.

It accepted the motion to abolish cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the Sole Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 amendments to the 1972 Protocol (1961 Convention).

In Malaysia, as part of the government’s exploration to approve medical cannabis, the Medical Cannabis Caucus was formed and held its inaugural meeting with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on April 12.

The bipartisan caucus is to discuss policy issues related to  hemp, cannabis, and ketum industry for medical purposes in Malaysia.

The caucus is also looking at the cannabis and ketum industries estimated to be worth RM60 billion in other countries.

Medical cannabis is allowed in more than 40 countries.

Malaysian MPs in the Medical Cannabis Caucus are its chairman Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, and includes Azalina Othman Said (Pengerang), Khalid Abd Samad (Shah Alam), Xavier Jayakumar (Kuala Langat), Ignatius Darell Leiking (Penampang), Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen (Kuching City) and Dr Azman Ismail (Kuala Kedah). – May 3, 2022.