IN-CONFIDENCE

Tēnā koe Mr de Brouwer,

 

Thank you for your email received 1 August 2023, under the Official
Information Act 1982. Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate
officials at National Office to respond. 

 

Ngā manaakitanga,

 

Official and Parliamentary Information Team | Ministerial and Executive
Services

Ministry of Social Development

 

Our Purpose:
We help New Zealanders to help themselves to be safe, strong and
independent
Ko ta mātou he whakamana tangata kia tū haumaru, kia tū kaha, kia tū
motuhake

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Mr de Brouwer <[FOI #23666 email]>

Sent: Tuesday, 1 August 2023 10:00 PM

To: OIA_Requests (MSD) <[MSD request email]>

Subject: Official Information request - Disability Allowance and Medicinal
Cannabis Products

 

Dear Ministry of Social Development,

 

For the purposes of this information request when I mention 'MSD' I mean
MSD, it's Staff, it's Case Managers, it's Regional Health Advisors or
anyone involved in the decision making process to grant or decline
Medicinal Cannabis Products as an allowable cost in a clients Disability
Allowance.

 

When I mention 'Medicinal Cannabis Products', I mean any and all things
related to or derivative of Medicinal Cannabis, or any titles,
classifications and headings MSD would place Medicinal Cannabis Products
under for the purposes of an allowable cost for Disability Allowance. I
have sighted in a previous OIA that it is/was still being listed under
'Alternative Medical Treatment' which is the wrong classification as it is
now a prescription medication. That must change.

 

My questions are as follows:

 

1) What criteria does a Client have to meet to get assistance via the
Disability Allowance for Medicinal Cannabis Products as an allowable cost
in their Disability Allowance?

 

2) Why does MSD decline Medicinal Cannabis Products as an allowable cost
in a client's Disability Allowance? If the answer is anything related to
science and evidence please give a thorough explanation with sources in
response to Q6.

 

3) How many clients are currently in receipt of Disability Allowance
assistance that covers Medicinal Cannabis Products as an allowable cost?

 

4) What percentage of applicants applying/applied for Medicinal Cannabis
Products as an allowable cost covered under the Disability Allowance are
declined or lapsed, and what is the most common reason for declining this
assistance? If you could, please separate the data between lapsed and
declined.

 

5) When declining Medicinal Cannabis Products as an allowable cost under
the Disability Allowance is MSD responsible for explaining the reason of
the decline? If not, why not?

 

6) Does MSD base their decision when granting/declining Clients who've
applied to have Medicinal Cannabis Products included in their Disability
Allowance on any evidence-based research? If so, please cite specific
examples? If not, why not? And how are decisions then made if not based on
evidence-based research?

 

7) Does MSD have any written or digital resource(s) or guidelines and
process' (that are not already readily available to the public, such as
internal memos, bulletins, reminders etc) regarding decision making when
granting/declining Medicinal Cannabis Products as an Allowable cost under
Disability Allowance?

If so, could you please provide it without it impacting the business? If
there is no process/resource or guide, why not and how is the decision
then made?

 

8) Since the passing of the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis)
Regulations Act 2019, has MSD delivered any education to it's Staff, Case
Managers and/or Regional Health Advisors (or anyone involved in the
decision making process) to make them aware of the changes and what that
means for clients/patients? If so, how and what was involved? If not, why
and will this change?

 

9) Since the passing of the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis)
Regulations Act 2019, has MSD updated any of it's systems to align with
current legislation? Example: Cannabis is now classed as a Medicinal
Product that can be prescribed and therefore being updated as such on all
of MSD's software/resources/processes/tools. If not, why?

 

10) Has MSD updated any of its processes and/or understanding around
Medicinal Cannabis Products, the prescription process and it's challenges,
in order to better service whanau across New Zealand who are now legally
prescribed it? If not, why, will this change, when? If so, how?

 

11) Have staff at MSD who ultimately decide grant/decline for Medicinal
Cannabis Products received any training or extra education relating to
Medicinal Cannabis Products? If not, why?

 

12) What are MSD's policies or actions to ensure that Regional Health
Advisors have adequate medical knowledge and understanding to make medical
decisions? How often is their competency and knowledge tested, and how? If
not, why?

 

13) Under 'Pharmaceutical Charges' in the MSD Deskfile I have found this
statement:

 

"Costs not included

Disability Allowance cannot be paid for:

 

- pharmaceutical items not related to the client's disability (for example
a cough suppressant for the flu) or

- illegal drugs used for medical purposes (for example marijuana for pain
relief)."

 

Why has this remained as such, declaring Cannabis/Marijuana as an ILLEGAL
drug when it is not, based on the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis)
Regulations Act 2019?

 

14) This speak to the above question, is it MSD's understanding that MSD
may have influenced the decision making process by not adequately updating
its resources? If not, how has MSD made this clear for staff who have the
right to grant/decline?

 

15) When declining assistance for Medicinal Cannabis Products under
Disability Allowance, what work is being done to ensure that the needs of
the client/patient are fully understood, heard and they have a mana
enhancing experience?

 

16) Is MSD aware that declining Medicinal Cannabis Products as an
allowable cost is forcing clients/patients to go down a more harmful path
that WILL increase in cost to Government over the time the longer the
patient/client is prescribed? Dispensings for Morphine and Oxycodone
increased between 2017 and 2021 and will continue to climb. There is
already a large and growing amount of people on these types of pain
medications which will eat away at your quality of life resulting in more
prescriptions and treatments. The warnings on the labels carry risks.

 

17) When a Regional Health Advisor consults a Client's doctor regarding
their Medicinal Cannabis Products, what questions are being asked to
formulate the decision to grant or decline? Why is the client/patient not
consulted with during this process? Why does it appear that the
client/patient is placed last in the factors for decision making? They are
left scrambling trying to figure out how they will manage.

 

18) Te Pae Tawhiti talks about Mana Manaaki, Kotahitanga and Kia takatu
tatou, can you answer how MSD can meet these values if clients/patients
are being turned away from support and being put on drugs that actively
take away quality of life from them?

 

Being sick isn't a choice, and you shouldn't be dictated to when it comes
to your medication. You should be able to choose a medication that works
for you. The world has a dystopian hue when you tell the citizens what to
consume.

 

MSD has an opportunity to be proactive as they claim, to be in service to
the New Zealand People, to listen, learn and understand the needs of
people. This plant WAS illegal, stop treating it like it still is. If MSD
could rid themselves of their judgement on Medicinal Cannabis Products,
there might be a someone who, because they can now afford their CBD oil,
can get some respite from their earth shattering migraines and can return
to work, imagine...

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Mr de Brouwer

 

------------------------------- This email and any attachments may contain
information that is confidential and subject to legal privilege. If you
are not the intended recipient, any use, dissemination, distribution or
duplication of this email and attachments is prohibited. If you have
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-------------------------------

hide quoted sections

Tçnâ koe Mr de Brouwer,

 

Please find attached the Ministry’s response to your Official Information
Act request.

 

Ngâ mihi,

Celia

 

Official Information team | Ministerial and Executive Services

Ministry of Social Development

 

Our Purpose:
We help New Zealanders to be safe, strong and independent.
Manaaki Tangata, Manaaki Whânau.

 

------------------------------- This email and any attachments may contain
information that is confidential and subject to legal privilege. If you
are not the intended recipient, any use, dissemination, distribution or
duplication of this email and attachments is prohibited. If you have
received this email in error please notify the author immediately and
erase all copies of the email and attachments. The Ministry of Social
Development accepts no responsibility for changes made to this message or
attachments after transmission from the Ministry.
-------------------------------