Patients seeking medical cannabis may no longer need to be hospitalised to receive it.
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has ordered a review into the guidelines set by the Ministry of Health.
He hopes it will speed up the processing of cases and that it will remove some unnecessary steps in the process of approving the drug.
"There are some things in there at the moment I think that could be not applicable in all cases, for instance the requirement that a patient be hospitalised that may not be appropriate," he said.
The guidelines were rushed through last year after Alex Renton's mother applied for her son to be given access to the drug Elixinol to aid his suffering of prolonged seizures.
The guidelines set out steps for assessing applications.
"They are fairly particular/ I'm not sure if they are fit for purpose in every circumstance," Mr Dunne said.
So far that's the only case that has been approved by Mr Dunne and he believes that some tweaking will be needed as it's a new policy area.
He denies that this is a step toward easy access to medicinal cannabis.
"It's not so much easier; it's just to make the process a little bit more fair for people."
The guidelines were recently applied to Helen Kelly's application for medical cannabis to help her battle with cancer.
Mr Dunne said the application was withdrawn by her oncologist before any Ministerial decision was required.
Newshub.
