Medicinal marijuana to become legal to grow in Australia — but how will it work?
AM
By Penny Timms
Posted yesterday at 7:58am PHOTO: 21-year-old Ben Oakley says access to medicinal cannabis has brought him relief from his pain. (Supplied) RELATED STORY: 'Fit and proper' people can apply to grow cannabis this weekend MAP: Australia
It is about to become legal to cultivate and manufacture medicinal cannabis in Australia, which means people will be able to apply for a licence to grow their own cannabis crop.
Another change coming into effect in early November through the Therapeutic Goods Administration will mean medicinal cannabis will no longer fall under Australia's most stringent of schedules, reserved for dangerous drugs.
Instead, there will be provisions in place to use it on medical grounds, with certain approvals but only for very ill people.
However, it will still be illegal to use or grow marijuana for recreational purposes.
It will remain up to the states to decide whether the drug will be allowed and who will be able to use it, dispense it, who will be able to approve it, and what dosage and form of medicinal cannabis is appropriate.
And this is where things get murky, because each state is now trying to form or introduce its own legislation, while also considering an international law known as the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961.
The law is set in place by the United Nations, and outlines how medicinal cannabis should be approached.
There is also a lack of good quality information about medicinal cannabis, because it has been illegal for so long.
This means that it has not gone through the stringent clinical trials other medications typically go through, and there is little literature about the forms of medicinal cannabis, dosage, side effects, and benefits. So, how does it work state by state?
If you are in Queensland, from March 2017 a specialist should be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis for certain patients who have illnesses including MS, epilepsy, cancer and HIV/AIDS.
There are no age restrictions, but approval will only be provided by a doctor who needs to show evidence that medicinal cannabis could help the patient.
In New South Wales, medicinal cannabis will be available for end of life illnesses, but only for adults. Medicinal marijuana laws state by state
Queensland: Legal for specialists to prescribe for some patients from March 2017
NSW: Available for adults with end-of-life illnesses
Victoria: Available for children with epilepsy from early 2017
ACT: Legislation still in the works for 2017
Tasmania: Legislation for Controlled Access Scheme still in the works for 2017
WA: Legal for doctors to prescribe from November 1, under strict conditions
SA/NT: No information available
In Victoria, children with severe epilepsy will be able to access medicinal cannabis from early 2017.
The ACT is currently working on legislation that will include education sources for doctors. The legislation is expected to come into effect next year .
Tasmania is developing a Controlled Access Scheme, to allow patients to access unregistered medical cannabis. It is expected to come into effect next year.
The WA Government has just passed changes supporting the federal legislation. That means that, from Tuesday, doctors will be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis under strict conditions.
Products will only be able to be dispensed by a pharmacist. However, there is still no legal product available in Australia.
There is no information available for what the situation in South Australia or the Northern Territory.
While patients who have been illegally using medicinal cannabis are applauding the changes, they fear it could be a decade before it is widely available to those who need it. Long wait still looms for many reliant on medicinal cannabis
The 21-year-old has a rare condition called stiff person's syndrome, and has been using cannabis oil purchased on the black market to treat his chronic and debilitating symptoms.
"There are times where I've got so much tightness and tension in my back that it's just excruciatingly painful," he said.
"And the pharmaceutical medications don't always help to relieve that. But medicinal cannabis does. It relieves a lot of the pain and it allows me to continue moving on."
Mr Oakley explained that despite people often assuming he was sitting around "smoking and getting high", the way the oil worked he had never experienced the typical effects of recreational marijuana.
"I've never been high, never had the munchies. All it's given me is positive beneficial relief and that's something that people still to this day don't understand."
Mr Oakley said he sourced his medicinal cannabis from interstate, but that it was difficult as he had to acquire it through the black market.
"But the person who has been supplying me is an angel, they've been supplying over 200 people nationwide with medicinal cannabis free, all off her own back," he said.
"This person is a pensioner and she's just incredible. She's given me more life than what the doctors have."
Despite the legislation being passed, it will still take a long time before people like Mr Oakley can obtain the drugs legally.
He said he was worried that there had not been enough of an educational campaign to accompany the legalisation, to help medical professionals understand what it would mean and what their options were.
"I've spoken to my GP and a few specialists and they don't know where they're going, they don't know what they're doing," Mr Oakley said.
"Most of them have said 'look, what the government have set up right now is not good enough and a lot of them have gone, well it's not worth our time to go into this.'
"There's not enough information." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-29/medicinal-marijuana-to-become-legal-explainer/7975194
PHOTO: 21-year-old Ben Oakley says access to medicinal cannabis has brought him relief from his pain. (Supplied)
