Page 2814 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 August 2015
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for Medical Purposes) Amendment Bill 2014 and related discussion paper, dated 10 August 2015, together with a copy of the extracts of the relevant minutes of proceedings.
I move:
That the report be noted.
On 7 August 2014 Mr Shane Rattenbury MLA presented the Drugs of Dependence (Cannabis Use for Medical Purposes) Amendment Bill 2014 exposure draft—the draft bill—in the Assembly, along with a discussion paper prepared by the ACT Greens dated July 2014 entitled “Medicinal Cannabis”.
The draft bill and discussion paper were referred to the Standing Committee on Health, Ageing, Community and Social Services for inquiry and report. The committee received 35 submissions from a range of stakeholders. The committee also held public hearings on 13 and 31 March 2015 and on 9 April 2015, and heard from a range of individuals and organisations as well as government officials.
The committee also attended a conference on 23 September called “Better understanding evidence-based options for medicinal cannabis in the ACT”, which was co-hosted by the ACT Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT, the Public Health Association of Australia and the AIDS Action Council. Some members of the committee also attended the ATODA drug policy forum held on Tuesday, 10 March 2015, presented by Professor Beau Kilmer. The forum was called “What will we need to do to keep a legal therapeutic cannabis market separate from the illegal market and the implications of the USA experience for ACT policy, legislation and practice”.
The committee also met with the New South Wales Legislative Council’s General Purpose Standing Committee No 4 of their 55th parliament, which discussed the key findings and learnings from their 2013 inquiry into the use of cannabis for medical purposes.
The evidence presented to the committee does suggest that cannabis has medical potential and that the ACT should therefore look further into the regulation, costs and medical trials needed to progress a medicinal cannabis scheme. The committee made seven recommendations covering a range of matters. Most notably, the committee recommended that the ACT Legislative Assembly reject the proposed Drugs of Dependence (Cannabis Use for Medical Purposes) Amendment Bill 2014. The committee was of the opinion that the draft bill was naive and ill considered.
Whilst the committee does support the compassionate principle behind the bill and respects the concern to help those in need, especially those who are terminally ill or have serious medical conditions, unfortunately the bill does not provide a workable regulatory framework or a proper means of supply. The bill also raises significant medical, legal and public health risks, and under any scheme there needs to be an assurance of a quality supply of medicinal cannabis.
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