Page 2157 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 August 2014
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can have medical value treating various conditions. Potential side effects are seen much differently in this context, as they must be weighed against the debilitating effects of the symptoms that are being treated, just as is the case with other medicines that are accepted. The medical evidence shows that the risks of using medicinal cannabis are modest and that the benefits can be substantial.
As an example, a German medical study reviewed the variety of controlled trials that have involved medicinal cannabis and found a prevalence of favourable controlled trials for treatment of a range of conditions, including spasticity from multiple sclerosis; side effects from chemotherapy; symptoms of HIV/AIDS and cancer; chronic neuropathic pain; and other chronic pain, for example from cancer, rheumatism or fibromyalgia.
A second issue is an ideological distaste for offering any kind of support for using what is currently an illegal drug, particularly a drug that has a strong stigma attached to it. An associated reason is political concern about a voter backlash from people vocally opposed to any action which could be seen as supporting or endorsing the use of drugs. But this is not an appropriate way to make decisions about medicine, and about people’s lives and health.
In any case, I believe this is a misguided view, as polling shows that medicinal cannabis has popular support in the Australian community. Approximately 70 per cent of Australians support the use of medicinal cannabis. There is majority support amongst voters of every persuasion: Liberal, Labor, Green, and even the Palmer United Party. For politicians interested in the wishes of their constituency, this is an issue for you. Your voters support allowing sick people access to medicinal cannabis as a treatment.
Some people are particularly fearful about “what ifs”. What if allowing medicinal cannabis leads to an explosion in cannabis use more generally? What if it cannot be controlled and facilitates a criminal black market? Fortunately for us, we can look to the many years of evidence of regulated medicinal cannabis. These fears simply do not play out. They can certainly be controlled with well thought out and well managed regulation.
In any case, like other issues where a community need inevitably causes people to break the law in secret, it is beneficial to regulate. Under a regulated system, people who may currently use medicinal cannabis illegally would instead do so with the advice and support of a doctor, and the government will know who is growing cannabis for medicinal purposes and where they are doing it.
For members’ interest I will outline some of the key features of the legislation I have proposed.
A person seeking to use medicinal cannabis would need a medical declaration from their doctor, including details about the condition, how the doctor has discussed the risks and benefits, how the applicant would administer the cannabis and manage its use, and certification that the patient has tried or considered conventional treatments.
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