Pro-cannabis demonstration planned for Cork City

Medicinal cannabis. File Picture: iStock

A pro-cannabis demonstration has been planned for Cork City to “keep the pressure on Government to end prohibition".

Cannabis activist Martin Condon hopes that the demonstration from 2pm-6pm on August 7 near the skate park on Mardyke Walk will also be an opportunity for the 'cannabis community' to come together.

Local musicians including Rasputin's Boots and Andy Wilson are due to play, and a raffle will be held to benefit the Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery charity.

Mardyke Walk was chosen instead of Bishop Lucey Park to better facilitate social distancing in the large green area close to the Skate Park, Mr Condon said.

He hopes that some 200 people — but no more — will attend the demonstration.

We want to hold a peaceful demonstration to show people who we are, to give Cork’s diverse cannabis community a chance to meet and to stand up for ourselves," he said. 

"This law has been very oppressive. Prohibition has been the big problem for many patients out there.

"Once we remove this prohibition, we’ll be able to carry out more effective research and provide more affordable access."

Ending prohibition would allow further research on the substance’s medicinal qualities in Ireland, Mr Condon said.

It could also open the way for community, non-profit and co-operative type models of production to reduce the currently high costs to patients.

Cannabis rights campaigner Martin Condon at his home in Ballyvolane. Picture: David Keane

"So few companies provide these products that there’s almost a monopoly — and it's big business," said Mr Condon. 

He said that Cork woman Alicia Maher felt forced to move to Spain to access affordable medical cannabis which she found was the only medication that helped control her pain following multiple surgeries.  

Once bedbound and in severe pain, she is now writing a PhD in law.

“Alicia Maher is currently in Spain. If she came back, she’d have to spend over €1,000 per month on her medication," said Mr Condon.

"In Spain, it costs a couple of hundred euros because it is grown by co-operatives and community groups set up to provide patients with cost-effective access to their medications."

While he welcomed the news that some 17 patients currently accessing medical cannabis from Holland will now have their medication paid for upfront by the HSE, he said that there is no time to celebrate.

We still have patients like Alicia Maher out there in Alicante, exiled from her own country because of a lack of access to her medicine here," he said.

"So while it’s very welcome news, I wouldn’t be taking time to celebrate because there’s a lot more work that needs to be done on this issue."