Quote from SA State Parliament Hansard:

[budsta]

Below is a quote from the green party SA bill from Hansard.

 

We all need to call our pollies & make them be aware that it is not their god given right to decide our medication. Would you ask a plumber to pescribe cures for ailments - then why let pollies decide our treatment...

 

It takes only a few minutes to call your local pollie & voice your concerns. If privacy is an issue then don't give your full name to them.

 

Look how the laws have changed for the worse in SA recently - the only people to profit are bikie gangs & organised crime - it's the mr & mrs small time personal growers who are now crims.

IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE...

 

 

CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES (MEDICAL USE OF CANNABIS) AMENDMENT BILL

 

 

Mr HANNA

 

obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Controlled

Substances Act 1984. Read a first time.

 

Mr HANNA: I move:

 

That this bill be now read a second time.

 

Over a period of time I have heard numerous anecdotes about

people suffering from chronic, painful conditions where they have

sought relief from the symptoms of those conditions through the use of

marijuana, or to use the more technical name, cannabis. I therefore

bring a bill before the house which, under very strict regulation,

would allow people in that kind of situation to gain relief from their

symptoms. The sorts of illnesses or diseases which might warrant this

sort of treatment might be diseases such as cancer, perhaps chronic

pain arising from a severe back condition, or perhaps an illness

related to HIV/AIDS.

 

The sorts of symptoms which might usefully be treated by the

consumption of small and appropriate amounts of cannabis could be

chronic pain, loss of appetite or feelings of nausea. A substantial

body of medical opinion supports the assertions which I put forward

today. Dr Bucket from our own Controlled Substances Advisory Council

has made statements to the effect that the evidence supports these

general propositions, namely, that cannabis can be usefully used to

relieve symptoms of certain illnesses and diseases, and I have given

examples of those. Also, a comprehensive report has been produced in

New South Wales. The Premier of New South Wales, Mr Bob Carr, referred

to that report when he made a speech in the New South Wales parliament

on 20 May. In that speech he outlined that in New South Wales he would

be proposing the medical use of cannabis in the same way as I have

outlined here today. He gave similar examples of the types of illnesses

and the types of symptoms that might be treated with cannabis. The bill

which I propose is similar (although not the same as) to the concept

proposed by Premier Carr, and I will come to the detail of the bill in

a moment.

 

The report to which I have referred was the July 2001 report on

consultation on the findings and recommendations of the working party

on the use of cannabis for medical purposes. I would like to make a

political point in relation to this proposal, which is not so radical

as might be assumed by some people at first glance. For those who have

a knee-jerk reaction against the use and abuse of drugs in our society,

whether they be currently legal or illicit drugs, it may well be that

the very mention of consumption of cannabis brings a negative reaction.

But this proposal has not only been put forward by the conservative

Labor Premier of New South Wales, Mr Bob Carr: it also has support from

perhaps our most well-known conservative politician, the Prime

Minister, Mr John Howard. In the <italic>Age</italic> of 22 May 2003,

Mr Howard said that he was all in favour of using marijuana for pain

relief but only where there was no mainstream treatment available and

when it was dispensed by a doctor in tablet or spray form.

 

So, there is certainly qualified support from the Prime Minister for

this measure.

 

I inform the house that I am not putting forward one of those

proposals which came out of the Premier's Drugs Summit held in the

middle of last year which went so far as to propose steps towards

decriminalisation of cannabis. I note that, despite the fact that the

Premier made such fanfare of the Drugs Summit and that there were

present at the summit a broad cross-section of experts and community

representa-tives, the Premier and the government chose to focus on

punitive measures for abusive drugs rather than look at how certain

substances might be usefully used in our society. So, in the South

Australian Drugs Summit report of the government called `Tackling

Drugs: Government and Communities Working Together', dated December

2002, there was no mention whatsoever of those recommendations of the

summit to ease the criminality in relation to marijuana. This proposal

is on a totally different tack. It is a proposal to permit the medical

use of cannabis in tightly confined circumstances. I will outline those

circumstances and the way the bill works.

 

Currently, of course, it is unlawful to smoke, consume, possess or

sell cannabis or cannabis resin. An expiation notice scheme applies to

the cultivation of one plant of cannabis. That simply means that,

although it is not lawful, the offence is expiated by the payment of an

expiation fee. The expiation fee system is essentially a state system

of bribery so that the state does not proceed to prosecution of a

person for behaviour considered undesirable in our society.

 

So, given that legislative background, the function of this bill

is to provide a lawful defence for smoking, consumption, possession or

cultivation of a small amount of cannabis for personal use, and

personal use only. The defence will be available to people who hold a

valid medical certificate which has been issued to that person by a

medical practitioner responsible for the medical care of that person on

an ongoing basis. So, we are talking about the regular medical

practition-er of that person, who may be their general medical

practi-tioner, oncologist or orthopaedic surgeon, but somebody who has

ongoing care of that person.

 

The certificate must certify that the person has a certain illness

or disease; it must specify the symptoms associated with the illness or

disease; and it must declare that, in the opinion of the medical

practitioner, the smoking or consump-tion of cannabis by the person

would mitigate the symptoms of the person's illness or disease. By the

very nature of the drug, we are not talking about a magic cure-all. We

are talking about the relief of symptoms such as pain, nausea and loss

of appetite.

 

Second, it is important that people using cannabis for this

medical purpose be properly informed, so the certificate must also

state that the doctor and the person have discussed the risks

associated with using cannabis. Like all drugs, whether they be legal

or illegal under our current framework of laws, there are some

advantages to many drugs and there are certainly disadvantages when

drugs are abused. So, this bill is very alive to the prospect of drugs

being abused, and that is why there is a tight framework within which

medical use of cannabis should be allowed.

 

Further, the certificate must refer to the dosage of cannabis to

be taken, the method of administration and the period for which the

cannabis should be used for the purpose of treating the symptoms of the

person's illness or disease. Certificates issued will not last longer

than 12 months (they will not be valid for longer than that time). They

could, of course, be renewed if the doctor and the patient go through

that process again.

 

The doctor must also furnish the minister with a copy of the

certificate, that being the Minister for Health who is the minister

responsible for the administration of the Controlled Substances Act. In

this way, the government can keep a check on the use of cannabis

pursuant to this bill and can assess whether abuse begins to creep into

the system contrary to the spirit and intention of the bill. There are

penalties in the bill for doctors who wrongly or falsely provide such

certificates to patients. So, without going through the bill line by

line, one can see that there are many safeguards in place.

 

This is a compassionate measure. It is desirable to create an

exception to the criminal law because there are people who will benefit

from the use of this drug. In principle, it is no different from any

other drug. This parliament needs to consider the potential benefits of

a drug and the potential for abuse of that drug. The same principle

should apply, whether it be alcohol, cannabis or amphetamines. Each of

these will be dealt with differently by this parliament because we

assess the potential benefits and the relative risks and potential for

abuse in different ways. We can be sure of one thing in regard to

cannabis: there is now a sufficient body of medical evidence to warrant

the permission for patients to use cannabis for things such as pain

relief, overcoming feelings of nausea and appetite stimulation.

 

I submit the bill to the house as a compassionate measure, and one

with which we can safely proceed.

 

 

Mrs GERAGHTY secured the adjournment of the debate.

Edited June 9, 2003 by budsta

[Guest Field_of_Light]

You gotta check out ray martin show today at 6.30pm...they have a kid on there whose parents want to give him mj.....the thing is hes 4.........

 

But from what they have been saying the poor kid sounds extremely fucked up....as in his internal organs are ceasing or something like that........

 

could be a landmark case in mj use.......

 

or could push the conservative majority to press the kill the idea button.............

 

Just watch it and let me know what you all think......

 

Oh yeh my local pollie was the ars##### who put the bill into parliament.....he doesnt give a fuck......

[white_cluster]

I saw the same kind of thing a fair while ago on a US show 20/20 or something. Anyway , it was about a californian mother whos doctor had given her son a prescription to take pot. This kid was 10 years old or so I think. But the things that were wrong with this kid we're that he was emotional and violent and didn't want to go to school. So his mum was cooking him up prescription leaf and putting it in capsules and keeping her son stoned all day.

She was going on about how great pot is saying " Hes so happy now, hes always smiling and he keeps giving me hugs and telling me he loves me," and then they ask the kid if he's happy and he peers up through his glassy red eyes and says ".......yeah.....Im like happy and stuff all the time".

Them American parents are fucking insane reminds me of an oprah I saw recently...........

 

As for the kid, if he's real fucked up, whats wrong with a bit of pot, its not gonna change the publics view on the legislation, because it says he cant have pot anyway, you have to be over 18.

[Guest Field_of_Light]

Im surrised they didnt give him medication for ADD......isnt that the latest drug giving trend?

 

Nice scapegoat for many if you ask me.......still its only my opinion...

[Gruntus]

Somebody has posted this link elsewhere www.growmedicine.com

 

Todd's mother started giving him medical marijuana for the nausea of chemotherapy and radiation when Todd was nine.

Todd feels he never would have survived that bout with chemo-therapy—his eighth—without medical marijuana.

Kids on his ward were dying of malnutrition and dehydration brought on by nausea, yet Todd re-tained a healthy appetite and—as importantly, he thinks—a healthy attitude.