In a Parliamentary Front hearing at Alesp, Suplicy criticizes SUS-SP restrictions: “The law is timid and conservative”
Eduardo Suplicy criticizes cannabis law restrictions in SUS-SP and demands expanded access during a hearing at Alesp. Read the full article on Sechat!
During a public hearing of the Parliamentary Front for Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp, held this Thursday (13) at the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo (Alesp), State Representative Eduardo Suplicy (PT) sharply criticized the current scope of the public policy for distributing cannabis-based medications in the state. Vice-coordinator of the panel, the lawmaker spoke candidly about his own limitations in accessing treatment through the SUS.
"Personally, I believe that, little more than three years after the implementation of this law, its results are still timid and conservative. I myself, having been diagnosed with a neurodegenerating condition, Parkinson's Disease, cannot access cannabis treatment through the SUS. There are still very few illnesses eligible for treatment through this route," stated the representative during the event.
The statement came during a discussion evaluating the two years since the implementation of State Law No. 17,618/2023. Despite being considered a regulatory milestone in the country, São Paulo's legislation relies on strict clinical protocols defined by the Secretariat of Health of the State of São Paulo (SES-SP), limiting free supply to a narrow list of severe epileptic syndromes.
With this restriction, conditions such as Parkinson's Disease, chronic pain, autism spectrum disorders, and anxiety conditions remain outside the direct coverage of the state public network, forcing patients to seek treatment on their own, through associations, or via legal action.
For Suplicy, expanding access to other pathologies must be a priority in the state network's protocol revision. "Ensuring that the SUS can be used by the entire Brazilian population as smoothly as possible is one of our goals that we need to see put into practice very soon," he argued.
The meeting of the Parliamentary Front, chaired by Representative Caio França (PSB), gathered health managers, doctors, and representatives from organizations to discuss increasing the number of patients served, training network professionals, and cutting red tape for delivering phytocannabinoids at High-Cost Pharmacies in the state.