Australia to lift ban on medical cannabis

Australia Saturday announced plans to legalise the growing of cannabis for medicinal purposes, saying those suffering debilitating illnesses deserved access to the most effective treatments.

Under current laws, marijuana is classified as an illegal drug, and while penalties vary from state to state, people who grow, use, possess or sell it can be fined or sent to prison, CNN reported.

“I would hope that my Assembly colleagues would support a model that will give suffering Canberrans access to this potentially life-changing treatment”.

Ms Ley said it was important to make clear the announcement was not a debate about the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use, nor was it a discussion about making medicinal cannabis products available over the counter without it being first prescribed through a doctor or clinical trial.

Ms Ley said the Government meant to amend the Narcotic Drugs Act to allow cannabis to be grown for medicine or science, and ensure that Australia was not in breach of global drug treaties.

“Currently there are already systems in place to licence the manufacture and supply of medicinal cannabis-based products in Australia, however there is no mechanism to allow the production of a safe, legal and sustainable local supply”, Ley said.

Provision of legal cannabis to treat medical conditions appears to have broad community support.

Ms Ley said the government will consult the Greens, Labor and cross-bench MPs as well as states and territories on the draft amendments.

“I’m sure Australians would be concerned if we allowed medicinal cannabis products to be subject to lower safety standards than common prescription painkillers or cholesterol medications”, Ms Ley said.

“We need to put in place, by working with the states and territories, uniform criminal laws to exempt people from the fear of prosecution if they’ve got legitimate access to medicinal cannabis for an approved objective, but we also need to sort out supply and only the Commonwealth can do that”, the shadow assistant health minister, Stephen Jones, told ABC TV. Ley stressed that this did not in any way indicate that legal recreational marijuana use was any nearer.

The plan calls for the Commonwealth to become the national regulator of medicinal cannabis and for the government to establish rules for licensing one or more producers.

The Australian federal government is planning a licensing scheme to allow cultivation and distribution of medical cannabis while the issue remains a hot topic in New Zealand. She will meet with state and territory health ministers in November to discuss how the changes will work.