‘I have a medical condition; I’m not a drug addict’

A UK based Mullingar native with chronic pain has called on the government to change Ireland’s drug laws to enable him to bring his medically prescribed cannabis home with him when he comes to visit his elderly parents.

Retired solicitor David Case has lived with rheumatoid arthritis since the age of 14, but his condition deteriorated significantly when he turned 50 five years ago.

Over the last four decades, he has been prescribed various medications, but the most effective by far, he says, has been cannabis, which his doctor first prescribed for him in 2020.

“I’m able to garden. I’m able to play guitar. I’m able to do all the things that I can’t do when I stop taking cannabis.

“If I met you, you wouldn’t know I had rheumatoid arthritis and you wouldn’t know I took cannabis. But if I stopped taking the cannabis, it would become apparent quite quickly.

“I’m a different man [when I take cannabis]. The way it works is that in terms of pain, it takes away roughly 30 per cent of the pain.

“Now, you might think that that’s not very much, but for someone who lives with pain every day, that 30 per cent makes a big difference.

“Imagine a weightlifter and he’s at the point where he lifts right at the limit. You put another kilo on top, he won’t lift it.”

Last year David came home to Mullingar without his cannabis prescription, but it took him months to recover, he says.

While he is eager to come home to help care for his parents (his father is currently in a nursing home), he is reluctant to do the same again.

“I had to have a steroid injection [as a substitute for his cannabis prescription]. Then I got home to the UK, and for October and November, I couldn’t move. They give me cannabis because nothing else has worked.”

David has spent the last few years trying to get the Irish government to make the legislative changes that would allow him to travel with his cannabis prescription when he comes home to Ireland.

Although the use of cannabis for medical purposes was legalised in 2019, his efforts up to now have been unsuccessful.

“I live a respectable life, my wife is a Doctor of Law and my daughter is at Oxford University. I dislike having to talk about my illness and the drugs I take to manage my condition.

“I have, however, written to the state for three years now in the hope that some sense can be seen.

“Most recently, I have been in contact with Minister Burke about this matter and he has advised me that my position is being considered by the Taoiseach.

“Accordingly, the position remains the same as it did some three years ago – I am unable to travel with a prescription just because it was issued by a UK doctor and not an Irish one.

“I simply want to be able to travel freely with my prescribed medicines so I can help look after my elderly parents.

“Time is ticking on and I fear that without some public sympathy and support, no favourable decision will be made within a reasonable timeframe, or perhaps at all.

“Fine Gael has set itself out as the champion of family values and Simon Harris has in the past said he supports the use of medical cannabis. Are such sentiments rooted in satire or reality?

“...I feel like I’m having to prostitute myself and throw out all my dirty washing. And for what? So I can see my mam and my dad.

“It’s just an injustice. And with me having a legal background, as you can imagine, it just doesn’t sit well with me.”

When asked if he had considered buying cannabis on the black market when he comes home to Ireland, David says that is not something he could countenance.

“I don’t want to do that. I’m a solicitor. I’m a middle-aged man. I don’t want to break the law.

“You have no idea of the pain that I have had to endure until cannabis became lawful here.

“Sure, it would be the easiest thing in the world, but I won’t do it. Why should I?

“I have a medical condition. I’m not a drug addict,” he said.