"International acceptance of medicinal cannabis is growing because it can provide relief for people who can’t be sufficiently helped with current pharmaceutical drugs. But despite growing evidence of its usefulness in certain situations, medical use of cannabis remains illegal in Australia."
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| A visual summary of cannabis laws throughout the world |
At
the end of August Dr Wodak described an announcement by the then
state of Victoria's Opposition (Victorians being able to take part in
an international trial of a pharmaceutical being tested overseas on
children with epilepsy) as 'nonsense' and said: "It sounds good,
but if you look at the small print, it's really nothing. This might
benefit 10 people in Victoria in five years time". The Labor
government vowed to instruct the Victorian Law Reform Commission to
examine the prescription, manufacture and distribution of medical
cannabis. Both plans ignore more than 100 randomised controlled
clinical trials showing different forms of cannabis can treat chronic
pain, muscle spasticity, nausea and stimulate appetite in people with
weight loss due to cancer or HIV. "I like the idea of
emphasising research ... but it also delays the inevitable. We want
medicinal cannabis now," Dr Wodak said. "Large numbers of
people believe it is beneficial."
In
September, Guam became the first external US territory to legalise
cannabis for medical use and now more than half of all US states permit
medical use of cannabis. Washington and Colorado were the first US states to legalise recreational cannabis for
adults 21 or older in 2012, Alaska (February 2015)
and Oregon (from July 2015) also both legalised recreational cannabis for adults.
Map showing US cannabis laws
State with legalised cannabis.
State with both medical and decriminalisation laws.*
State with legal medical cannabis.
State with decriminalised cannabis possession laws.
State with total cannabis prohibition
* Nevada has laws decriminalising possession for adults; non-medicinal cannabis possession remains a felony with a prison sentence for adults.Thus, Nevada is not considered to have fully decriminalised cannabis.
Meanwhile in Australia, cannabis oil producer Dr Andrew Katelaris, deregistered in 2005 for refusing to stop recommending and
supplying cannabis to patients, said desperate families turn to him
because they have run out of options. “When the law is unjust,
resistance is mandatory." He
has been arrested a dozen times and charged with a range of 'drug'
offences but he continues, as he is prepared to take the risk to help
children who have been declared untreatable by other doctors.
“It’s interesting what necessity does. What the [Australian] health ministers are doing is criminal. They’re depriving severely incapacitated children from a lifesaving medicine, it’s that black and white.”
He
called on police to exercise discretion in relation to patients and
suppliers. “It’s the greatest treason to do the ‘right thing’
for the wrong reason.”
And still in September 2014, Tony Abbott, Australian Prime Minister, after
hearing the plight of Dan Haslam, declared that he endorsed the
therapeutic use of cannabis. He claimed that “if a 'drug' is needed
for medicinal purposes and dispensed without danger, then there
should not be any doubt about its legality. If a drug is really not
dangerous, then it should be available wherever it is useful”.
Following
Dan and his family's campaign to legalise the medical use of
cannabis, New South Wales (NSW) is now running three medical trials
to allow children with severe epilepsy, adults with terminal
illnesses and people with nausea caused by chemotherapy to use
medical cannabis. "Dan and I learned about cannabis, and the
rest is history - well hopefully the rest is slowly rewriting
history," Mrs Haslam said.
In the Australian Capital Territory, a Legislative Assembly inquiry considering the use of cannabis for medical purposes says the fact the drug is already widely used illegally means a regulated system is unlikely to lead to more illicit drug taking in the community.The Public Health Association has labelled state and territory governments, including the ACT;
"out of step with the attitudes and behaviour of much of the general public and professional opinion" on the use of cannabis to treat some illnesses.
However,
clinical trials of cannabis for medicinal purposes won’t see it
approved for prescription and should not delay a law change allowing
the use of the drug, an expert, the former Dean of the University of
Melbourne’s medical school, Professor David Penington said in the
Medical Journal Australia in February 2015. The varying potency of
cannabis means it will never be marketed as a pharmaceutical.
“Cannabis
can never be a pharmaceutical agent in the usual sense for medical
prescription, as it contains a variety of components of variable
potency and actions, depending on its origin, preparation and route
of administration.”
Federally
in Australia, you still have a chance to 'put your two bobs worth in'
to medical cannabis laws currently being drafted. The Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2014 is still open for submissions and will
close 13 March 2015.
 |
Cooper
Wallace, whose mother, Cassie Batten, was arrested after admitting in
an interview that she administered
the drug to her disabled and epileptic son. Police
dropped the case on advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions.
"No
parent should ever have to make a choice between saving their child
and obeying the law."
|
Many, many Australians, young and old, do not have the time to wait for trials or new legislation, they need
medicinal cannabis today; not next month or next year and they
need good quality organic grown whole plant medicine to cater to their specific need - cannabis as a pharmaceutical isn't
enough to save a life, as the healing properties of cannabis are many
and varied and a pharmaceutical won't do it, it just won't.
So
how many more Dan Haslam's must there be?
Medicinal Cannabis for
Australia - why the bloody hell not?
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