Page 2285 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 August 2016
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robust scheme that takes into account issues such as drug driving and the risk of criminal diversion. In this regard let me be clear that this is not a discussion about the legalisation of marijuana or a framework for the licensing of people to smoke marijuana on compassionate grounds. These are separate issues, with separate considerations. What we are talking about is a scheme which will treat medicinal cannabis products in the same manner as we treat other medicines.
Some of these products, such as Sativex which has been available in Australia for some time, are already being manufactured around the world. However, these products are currently manufactured overseas and imported at great cost to Australians. The commonwealth changes will now allow licensed Australian companies to research, grow and produce medicinal cannabis locally.
This presents the ACT with another opportunity. While we are a small jurisdiction and our ability to cultivate and manufacture is limited by our geography we do have other strengths in this area, especially in the areas of research and product development. We already have some of the best medical researchers in the country based at our local higher educational institutions and advancing research on the efficacy of medicinal cannabis to treat a range of illnesses and conditions presents another opportunity to support cutting-edge research in Canberra and showcase our city as the research capital of Australia, which is why, as well as working to implement a medicinal cannabis scheme, the ACT government will also work with industry and local researchers and institutions to continue to investigate the medicinal properties of cannabis so that products can be developed that help patients.
Indeed, there is already movement in this space. I was very pleased to see the University of Canberra and Cann Pharmaceutical announce their partnership to test the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of cancer. This two-year trial will be lead by Professor Sudha Rao from the University of Canberra and will aim to see how medicinal cannabis can be used in conjunction with other treatments to stop one of Australia’s most prevalent cancers, melanoma. This is just one innovation that is being brought to the ACT, but there will be others.
The government is meeting with industry partners and investigating other research opportunities. We are also investigating how we can work cooperatively with Victoria and New South Wales and across Australia to lend our expertise to this exciting field of medical research. Indeed, the Chief Minister and the Victorian Premier spoke specifically about medicinal cannabis when they met earlier this year.
To pursue these opportunities and to develop and implement the strong framework I spoke about earlier, the government will appoint two expert advisory committees from across the spectrum of government agencies, non-government agencies, medical specialists and law enforcement. The first group, to be known as the medicinal cannabis medical advisory panel, will provide high level advice to the Chief Health Officer on development of clinical guidelines and regulations relating to matters including, but not limited to, the specialties that can prescribe medicinal cannabis, indications for prescription of medicinal cannabis products, types of medicinal cannabis products that can be prescribed for each indication, appropriate dosages to be prescribed for each indication and appropriate routes of administration for each product.
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