The Icelandic surgeon general believes medical marijuana could be
allowed for use in Iceland. Recently, US president Barack Obama
announced that federal authorities would no longer seek to prosecute
institutions which use and prescribe medical marijuana, or drugs which
are made from marijuana’s active ingredients. Matthías Halldórsson,
Iceland’s surgeon general, believes such a turn could occur here.
“We have no possibility of being able to use marijuana for medical
purposes,” he said “because it’s not defined as medicine. And certainly
it would be possible to import medicine which uses cannabis derivatives
as a part of its ingredients, as marijuana in tablet form is available
elsewhere in the world. I believe that such an idea should be taken
into a doctor’s consideration if it’s believed that a patient would
benefit from such medication.”
Drugs such as cannibinol and marinol are used by some cancer patients
in order to reduce nausea and increase appetite, and by soem glaucoma
patients for the vasodialation properties.