Medicinal cannabis considered in NSW

[OZ Stoners]

A parliamentary committee inquiry is due to deliver a report to make medicinal cannabis available in NSW.        

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Medicinal cannabis considered in NSW Updated: 23:29, Thursday May 9, 2013

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Sue Hodges hasn't tried cannabis and never wants to smoke a joint but she does want to know if the leafy green plant can ease the severe pain of her multiple sclerosis.

At her home on Sydney's north shore she leans her crutches against the wall and carefully sits at her kitchen table, saying the only time the pain leaves her body is when she sleeps.

Which is amazing, I have the best sleeps ever. But from the second I wake in the morning it is the very, very first thing I feel.

Ms Hodges says her MS pain is relentless and exhausting, gripping her not only when she moves but when she is still.

She has tried many prescribed medications in a bid to ease her pain, but all too often suffered serious side-effects.

Now she wants the NSW government to allow MS sufferers to have legal access to medicinal cannabis, despite it being classed as an illicit drug.

On May 17 a NSW parliamentary committee inquiry is due to deliver its report into that very issue after holding public hearings in March.

Its brief is to report on the effectiveness and safety of cannabis as a medicine and the legal implications of allowing it to be supplied.

Ms Hodges wants to legally take cannabis extracts as a medicine to see if it relieves the muscle-binding pain of her MS, as is currently allowed by law in 18 US states, 14 European countries, Israel, Canada and New Zealand.

International clinical trials have shown cannabis-based medications are effective in treating MS by reducing the painful muscle stiffness that is part of the neurological condition.

To get that benefit Ms Hodges is keen to try a mouth spray produced from cannabis grown in a secret indoor garden in England and marketed under the trade name Sativex.

The product, which minimises the cannabis high, has been registered by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as a medicine for MS sufferers and is being trialled on cancer patients in four Australian hospitals as part of an international study.

But Sativex is not legally approved as a prescribed medicine in Australia and its listing on the National Poisons Schedule would have to change for that to happen.

Lesley Brydon suffers severe arthritic pain and as CEO of the advocacy group Pain Australia she fronted the parliamentary inquiry to urge legal access to approved therapeutic cannabis.

People should have access to a variety of treatments of pain because pain is so idiosyncratic with people - what works for one person may not work for another.

Cannabis is another option where other options have failed to help.

Ms Brydon says cannabis medicines like Sativex relieve MS symptoms but medicinal cannabis might also help cancer patients and those in palliative care, though more research is needed.

She says if medicinal cannabis is approved it should be in the form of a pill or spray, as people should not self-medicate by smoking cannabis because dosages cannot be controlled.

The advocacy group Cancer Voices Australia's deputy chair and cancer survivor Sally Crossing also urged the inquiry committee to recommend making medicinal cannabis legal.

She says cancer patients need drugs to ease pain and prevent vomiting but most medications have serious side-effects and are difficult to use continuously.

We understand that medical cannabis has considerable benefits ... because not only does it address the symptoms very well but the side-effects are minimal.

Ms Crossing says if her metastatic cancer got to the stage where cannabis might help she would not want to grow a plant in her back garden but would rather use an approved therapeutic product with clear dosages.

There's enough evidence, there's enough experience in other countries to say that if we do this in a sensible way, with appropriate safeguards, we can help a lot of people who are suffering, not only at the ends of their lives, she says.

But NSW Police cautioned at the inquiry there was a danger of leakage into the community and a rise in cannabis use.

Drug Squad Commander Nicholas Bingham said studies in the US had shown that cannabis use had gone up in states that allowed medicinal cannabis.

If medicinal cannabis is legalised, NSW Police want it to be a therapeutic product such as a pill or spray, different and readily identifiable from illicit forms of the drug, including tinctures made from illegal crops and supplied as medicines outside the formal health system.

If you possess any of those products, apart from Sativex where you would have a prescription, then you are possessing cannabis and you are committing a crime, Superintendent Bingham said.

Australian Medical Association NSW Vice President Saxon Smith told the inquiry that the association did not condone the use of cannabis for non-medical purposes as it was a drug that caused a range of health and social harms.

The results of long term medical use were not currently understood and taking the drug could lead to psychosis and depression, he said.

But Dr Smith said cannabis could be of medical benefit for multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, wasting associated with HIV and cancer and for nausea and vomiting in people undergoing chemotherapy who did not respond to conventional therapies.

At this point in time the AMA NSW believes further research should be carried out, given the recognised harmful effects of cannabis, to validate these medical benefits.

Sue Hodges meanwhile gets through each day on prescribed pain medication but hopes lawmakers will soon approve medicinal cannabis for MS sufferers and others suffering ongoing pain.

All those other countries do it. I can't believe Australia is behind, she says.

[Naycha]

Dunno what to say, those attitudes are really sad.

 

I hope the lady in the article is soon able to medicate however she pleases, I wish she would give others the same respect and dignity.

 

Naycha

[The Hash Nibbler]

"Drug Squad Commander Nicholas Bingham said studies in the US had shown that cannabis use had gone up in states that allowed medicinal cannabis.

If medicinal cannabis is legalised, NSW Police want it to be a therapeutic product such as a pill or spray, different and readily identifiable from illicit forms of the drug, including tinctures made from illegal crops and supplied as medicines outside the formal health system.

If you possess any of those products, apart from Sativex where you would have a prescription, then you are possessing cannabis and you are committing a crime, Superintendent Bingham said."

 

This is bullshit, how can a government entity endorse a private company Cannabis based product as the only solution and still illegalize natural Cannabis? Sativex IS a natural Cannabis extraction.

Nick Bingham, your a police officer, not a doctor or the AMA........

 

We as the patients should be able to pick our own means of supply and use of our medicine. This whole story is full of the bullshit that Jan Copeland has been feeding these so called "experts" in Australia on Cannabis.

Lets not fark around, none of them have ever kept up to date with REAL Cannabis break throughs in medicine, because they only see it as a drug thanks to one eyed Right wing government funded organizations like Jan Copelands.

 

Their "CANNABIS IS BAD" full stop!  approach has left our drug research into Cannabis in Australia, 15-20 years behind the rest of the world and left our politicians and law makers delusional about what Cannabis actually can and can not do........ and they are still feeding our government this un-scientifically proven Bullcrap today....

 

Want my advice...... Nothing will ever change with these clowns..... grow your own, don't let the man tell you what you can and can't do with your own body as a medical user, and 2 , don't let Cannabis be treated this way..... it deserves more respect than what these muppets give it....... help preserve it for the future.

 

Even Legal Recreational use of Cannabis in Australia should be entertained................ unless the Police would like to have a Methamphetimine outbreak the likes of which they have never seen. Cause kids that wanna party, if they cant get a choof..... it will be speed or pills...........

 

Look at what your doing to this country, you Blind Fools.

 

Peace. Nibbler.

 

Peace. Nibbler

[Faith]

+1 Cheers 'Nibs you said it well.  Our gov't is the perpetual feeder of lies and fear.

 

Peace. v       

[habbitt]

I read the parliamentary enquiry. alot of information provided by persons who are not qualified. interesting reading the police statement saying they are concerned for leakage into the recreational market- wtf. they always inflate the value of plants 2000 or outdoor and 5000 for indoor. makes the small grower for personal medicinal use look like a crim in the eyes of the public. This inflation shits me to tears. disappointing them recommending a pharmaceutical product which has a monopoly and is expensive at $500 per month which most disability pensioners cannot afford.

 

On a side note it was a shame that the spokesman for the HEMP party kept going off on tangents and could not remember the question he was asked. but cant beat a bloke down for trying

[Sir PsychoHashy]

+1 Nibbler, pretty much in agreement, grow your own and personalise it to suit your own needs.

 

Still would be nice for people wanting only pharma based cannabis medications to be able to get them, and I would prefer to see that as the only legal option than none at all as for many people that would be the only option they would be happy with, and the rest of us can continue on as is.

 

As for the government legalising a corporate product whilst leaving the natural illegal, we can't really use that argument without saying we endorse drugs like opium and cocaine, as they are both currently in legal medicines available in Oz.  My argument would be that that is good reason for at least legalising cannabis based pharma products for those that want them.

 

As long as politicians, some police, and anti-drug lobby groups are involved in the process we can be sure that whatever the outcome, it will probably be a joke.

[galactically]

Thousands can be encouraged to dissolve their fear gland and grow their own medicine , it's well known that only an evil magistrate will convict/punish a person in pain and it would be easy to anonymous style exposé and shame them , q

anyone can get a tent and light for under $500 happening and the more who do it are taking away the power they have given to the drug/military/industrial bollox that poses as representative government of the people ,  there are no victims so why make yourself one  

[iTiC]

AAAAARrrgggghm Fucking feared this (would happen)!

 

Superintendent Bingham is not a cannabaoid scientist. Savitex is a PISS POOR application of the medicine.

There are many applications, including ppl growing and adding amounts to their food! We dont need a bunch of arts graduates writing policy on something they dont understand.

Either they should GET some more understanding OR stop FUCKING TALKING !!!

 

For example, last night... and this needs more thought !! but I_Think cannabis can be made into an injectable form as missible in water as it is in alchol. This could remove cancer in days nor months or weeks.

You want to take the needle out of my hand before if learnt how to use it, for the GOOD of us all !!

FOOL

 

edit: This is bubble gum medicin and science. I cant imagin how old mate might shit him self when he might talk to a scientist about the needs and methods into exploring the human mind. It would all be perfectly safe and controlled like any other study, but men with hazmat suits and machine guns might disagree!

Im saying this shouldnt be their decision, it should be mine and yours and ours.

Where our voice really? I sure wouldnt want to meet this guy at MG!

Edited May 12, 2013 by iTiC