A woman who suffers from a serious form of the inflammatory bowel disease Crohn should be able to deduct the cost of the cannabis she grows to relieve her symptoms from tax, the advocate general said on Friday.

Official medicinal cannabis failed to have the desired impact on her health, prompting the women to grow her own, on medical advice. But the tax office ruled she could not deduct the cost from tax, because the cannabis had not been provided by a doctor or a licenced pharmacist.

Although a lower court found in her favour, the ruling was overturned on appeal, hence the second appeal to the Supreme Court.

The advocate general said in his recommendations that specific health costs can be deducted from tax even if they were not ‘regular medicines prescribed by a doctor’.

The advice of the advocate general is not binding but generally accepted by the Supreme Court. No date has yet been set for its ruling.