Page 4266 - Week 13 - Thursday, 19 November 2015
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Wales government announced the commencement of a medicinal cannabis trial for terminally ill adults. The trial will be conducted in two parts. Part one will be conducted at the Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle and will involve approximately 30 participants. Depending on the results of part one, there may be scope to expand the trial in due course to incorporate a much greater pool of study participants. In addition, the New South Wales government is continuing to work with interested researchers on the development of trials relating to the use of cannabis in the treatment of paediatric epilepsy and in the chemotherapy-related areas that cause nausea and vomiting.
In June of this year New South Wales announced funding of $12 million over four years for a centre for medicinal cannabis research and innovation to be headed up by the New South Wales Chief Scientist, Mary O’Kane. The centre will work alongside partners such as the Lambert Initiative, which was established in June this year following a $33.7 million donation to the University of Sydney from Barry and Jo Lambert for clinical and scientific cannabinoid-related research in the hope of ultimately producing cannabinoid-based medicines.
The New South Wales government has developed a terminal illness cannabis scheme to extend compassion to adults with a terminal illness. The terminal illness cannabis scheme provides guidelines for New South Wales police to assist them in determining appropriate circumstances in which to use their discretion not to charge adults with terminal illness who use cannabis to alleviate their symptoms and carers who assist them. New South Wales residents who are aged 18 years and over who have a terminal illness are eligible to be registered for the scheme.
Turning to developments in Victoria, it has also been heavily involved in medicinal cannabis matters. In December last year the Victorian government announced its intention to legalise medicinal cannabis for individuals with terminal illnesses or life-threatening conditions and referred the matter of options for implementing the reforms to the Victorian Law Reform Commission. The VLRC were tasked with advising on how to define the exceptional circumstances in which a person should be allowed to be treated with medicinal cannabis and how the law could be amended to enable an authorised person to receive the treatment they need while continuing to prevent unauthorised access in other circumstances by other persons.
The VLRC’s report was tabled in the Victorian parliament in October this year. It included 42 recommendations and addressed key issues including cultivation, manufacture, supply, patient eligibility, clinical oversight and the need for clinical trial research. The Victorian government fully accepted 40 of the recommendations and they accepted a further two in principle. As a result, the Victorian government has announced it will legalise access to locally manufactured medicinal cannabis products for use in exceptional circumstances from 2017 in a way significantly different from the approach proposed by the draft bill put forward by Mr Rattenbury. We are awaiting further developments from Victoria with interest.
Nationally, as I mentioned previously, a cross-party Regulator Of Medicinal Cannabis Bill—the national bill—seeking to legalise the possession and use of cannabis for medicinal purposes and certain conditions was introduced into the Senate in
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