Medical Marijuana in the Land Down Under

This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on April 5, 2015.

In Australia medical marijuana is rapidly gaining momentum at both the state and federal level. 2015 is set to be a big year for the land down under.

Last November Tamworth hosted the 2014 Medical Cannabis Symposium. The event was co-funded by the Government and brought politicians and police face-to-face with leading experts in the field. The premise of the symposium was education, which has been lacking in the debate for medical marijuana. After the Symposium the Government introduced a private members’ bill in January, the purpose of the bill is to establish a national regulator who is responsible for creating usage rules and compliance procedures. A final reporting date is set for April 21.

At the end of 2014, New South Wales announced a 9-million dollar, 5-year plan to conduct medical cannabis trials with terminally ill adults, chemotherapy patients, and children with epilepsy. Led by the NSW Government the groundwork for the trials began on January 1 (the actual trials will start in early 2016). Additionally, the NSW Government gave police discretion not to charge terminally ill patients using marijuana. While NSW pushes forward with reform, states like Queensland seem to be far behind. In January a Brisbane father was arrested and faced criminal charges after giving his 2-year old daughter cannabis oil to help her fight stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer. The Queensland Government has said that it will await the results of the NSW trials, which are at least 5 years away, before introducing any sort of legislature.

The state of Victoria and the Premier, Daniel Andrews, are racing forward in an effort to be the first Australian state to legalize medical marijuana. Mr. Andrews is aiming to have a bill submitted to Parliament by the end of 2015. He asked the Law Reform Commission to submit a report with advice on how to proceed with regulation and prescription of medical marijuana. Last week the Commission released their issues paper, which provides background information on how marijuana has been used as a medicine, recommendations for legislation, and examples from other counties’ successful use of medical marijuana. The final report is due by August 2015. For now Victorians will have to wait until the bill is proposed to Parliament, but if all goes to plan patients may be using medical marijuana in Victoria before trials even begin in NSW.

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