Department spent €8,975 on couriers to collect and deliver medical cannabis during Covid-19

Travel restrictions introduced during the pandemic saw the department step in to assist patients with ministerial licences for medical cannabis to obtain the drugs by setting up a “temporary collection and delivery scheme” using a courier service. File picture: iStock

The Department of Health spent close to €9,000 on couriers to collect and deliver medical cannabis from the Netherlands for dozens of Irish patients, who could not travel abroad during the Covid-19 lockdown, the Irish Examiner has learned.

Travel restrictions introduced during the pandemic saw the department step in to assist patients with ministerial licences for medical cannabis to obtain the drugs by setting up a “temporary collection and delivery scheme” using a courier service.