Dear Mr Le Brun,

Thank you for your email request. Below is the response provided by the Faculty of Medicine.

"We appreciate that the endocannabinoid system has a regulatory role but we consider it is only a part of a much larger neuroendocrine/endocrine system, which we cover in detail. This, combined with the fact that there are very few if any drugs associated with the endocannabinoid that are suitable for clinical use, means that at this stage most of the teaching around this topic is in Science/Research Departments and there is little taught on the endocannabinoid system in the Medical course."

Sincerely,

Jan Flood
Registrar

-----Original Message-----
From: Shane Le Brun [mailto:[OIA #2390 email]]
Sent: Monday, 12 January 2015 10:33 p.m.
To: University of Otago Registrar
Subject: Official Information Act request - Medicine Faculty, Formal Training on CB1, CB2 receptors and effects.

Dear University of Otago, Faculty of Medicine.

I would like to request information on how much, if anything is taught at medical school on the Cannabinoid receptors, CB1, CB2, and the effects of drugs, formulated or otherwise, on these receptors and the various therapeutic responses.

I ask this question as the only CB1, CB2 targeting drug in NZ, Sativex has little known about it, and in Nelson in particular, 3 specialists, 1 Pain medicine, 2 Anaesthetists, know nothing about it and refuse to prescribe it due to lack of knowledge, meaning those who could qualify for it to alleviate their suffering are still finding it unobtainable. Within the Medicinal Cannabis Community in NZ it has also been observed that a disproportionate amount of foreign trained doctors are prescribing Sativex, compared to NZ trained specialists.

It is also pertinent to the concept of future proofing our medical training in NZ, as more formulated Cannabis based medicines become available, and the wave of Cannabis law reform based around medical use has arrived in Australia, meaning any medical professionals working overseas are increasingly likely to be exposed to Medicinal Cannabis going forwards.

Yours faithfully,

Shane Le Brun

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