Australia's first medicinal cannabis farm in NSW

[lookinggoodguys]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-15/barnaby-joyce-launches-australia's-first-cannabis-farm/7329350

 

Barnaby Joyce launches what could be Australia's first medicinal cannabis farm in NSW

ABC New England

By Jennifer Ingall

Updated 58 minutes ago

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/7329086-3x2-340x227.jpgPHOTO: Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce at Australia's first cannabis farm, DanEden. (ABC News: Jayne Margetts)

RELATED STORY: Victoria becomes first Australian state to legalise medicinal cannabis

RELATED STORY: Medical cannabis campaigner dies at NSW home after cancer battle

MAP: Tamworth 2340

In an Australian first, a farm which has been earmarked for use to grow medicinal cannabis has officially been opened at an undisclosed location near Tamworth in northern New South Wales.

Key points

• Australia's first medicinal cannabis farm, near Tamworth, opened by Barnaby Joyce
• Victoria the first state to pass legislation allowing medicinal cannabis
• Federal Government working on framework for legislation to cultivate and supply

 

Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce launched the 47-hectare property which has been named in honour of Dan Haslam, whose battle with cancer contributed to the push to legalise medicinal cannabis in Australia.

It comes just over a year after he died, and ahead of legislation yet to be passed, which will make the cultivation possible.

The Acting Prime Minister congratulated the Haslams on their efforts in bringing the project this far.

"Amongst your grief, which you will carry for a long time, you have managed to use that energy to do something in a positive way," Mr Joyce said.

"When you can find a use for any part of a plant that can assist people when they are ill, when they are in pain, you should do it."

Mr Joyce revealed his own very personal reason for backing the project.

"We've got to make sure that everything — for my brother Tim who's got bowel cancer, stage four — that we do everything in our power to make sure we help people," he said.

Farm created with family support

Dan Haslam's mother, Lucy Haslam said over the last two years, the family had managed to garner support from where previously there was none.

"We have been able to bring Australian political views up to date with current world views to change laws," she said.

"We have begun the process of re-educating Australian health providers around the use of medical cannabis."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/7329438-3x2-340x227.jpgPHOTO: Australia's first medicinal cannabis farm has been named in honour of Dan Haslam who campaigned for the legalisation of the drug before he died. (Tawar Razaghi)

 

Also at the launch was former Hi-5 member Tim Harding, whose daughter suffers from a form of epilepsy which cannot be treated with conventional medicines.

Mr Harding said she suffered on average 100 seizures each day, and got some relief from using medicinal cannabis.

"This project is basically for us a massive hope. That's what it represents to our family and to thousands of others," he said.

"The thought that we may have access to medication that works, that is standardised and is reliable and most importantly is affordable," he said.

Ms Haslam said the vision for the farm was to expand from cultivation to manufacturing.

"We see it as a new Australian primary industry," she said.

A framework for the future

The farm is the latest step in a concerted plan by Ms Haslam to allow people compassionate access to the drug, which she had to buy illegally for her own son to relieve his pain while being treated for bowel cancer.

While the Federal Government is working on framework around legislating for the cultivation and supply of medicinal cannabis, Victoria became the first state to pass legislation allowing medicinal cannabis earlier this week.

Despite these moves, Ms Haslam said Australia was leaps and bounds behind other countries in the world.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/7329882-3x2-340x227.jpgPHOTO: NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant, Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, and Lucy Haslam at the official opening of Australia's first medicinal cannabis farm.(ABC News: Tawar Razaghi)

 

She has just returned as part of a delegation to Israel along with the Premier of NSW Mike Baird, and NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer Professor Mary O'Kane.

The group toured patient clinics and a privately owned dispensary.

While cannabis is available medically and considerable research is being done for its application in the treatment of many diseases in Israel, Ms Haslam said there were issues with quality control because of a lack of government regulation.

"You need to know where it comes from, you need good manufacturing practices — otherwise you would have to spend a lot of time testing that to see that it didn't contain heavy metals or pesticides," she said.

The delegation found that until recently research in Israel had been unfunded and cannabis sourced from police confiscations.

Ms Haslam said that would not happen in Australia.

"We want the absolute best for our patients, so that's what we should be aiming for," she said.

"Most of those varieties are high THC varieties because they are bred for the drug markets. They don't necessarily have the properties that we would be searching for in the strains that are grown for medicinal use," she said.

Victorian legislation welcomed

The United in Compassion (UIC) farm near Tamworth will be the first to grow cannabis for medicinal use in Australia. But there is still a long way to go before federal legislation is passed and the Haslams get approval to go into production.

UIC's Troy Langman welcomed Victoria's recent decision to legislate for an industry.

"I think it's great news for patients all over Australia, somebody had to make the first move and I reckon that should put pressure on other states to follow suit as soon as possible," he said.

No time frame has been given for the passing of the federal legislation, which will allow the first crop to be sown, and UIC is yet to be approved as a licensed grower.

In the meantime Ms Haslam said the farm was a way of honouring Dan's memories, and his own dreams.

"Dan always wanted a farm. He had planned, with his wife Elyse, to always have a farm," she said.

"In his honour we will call our farm DanEden and we hope that the farm will be the start of something special."

Edited April 15, 2016 by lookinggoodguys

[FullCircle]

Slowly but surely!

 

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

[forgetiwashere]

It's all bullshit. Until you can legally grow your own at home its just a big money grab. If they truly cared they would let people grow their own medicine

[Wattsup]

This is a load of crap! just the big wigs rubbing their hands all together.  How the hell can they call it the first medicinal cannabis farm when their is not even state legislation on the matter... 

 

Trying to direct attention YES

Actually saying we will have the 'first farm is a load of bull shit'

 

what about all the other people of have died from Cancer or who are sick, what gives them the right to the the first???

 

Its one step forward and two steps back.  They're just playing politics.

[MongyMan]

...a farm which has been earmarked for use to grow medicinal cannabis has officially been opened at an undisclosed location near Tamworth in northern New South Wales.

 

...No time frame has been given for the passing of the federal legislation, which will allow the first crop to be sown, and UIC is yet to be approved as a licensed grower.

 

...In the meantime Ms Haslam said the farm was a way of honouring Dan's memories, and his own dreams.

 

 

 

[Stiritup420]

One has to die before one gets their own farm.  "A grower is yet to be approved"  i bet its Bronwyn Bishop

 

"We see it as a new Australian primary industry"   Fkn hypocrite Cnts.. We are criminals but they can plant 47 hectares for profit   Fcker better do a grow diary here.

 

Its our money not theirs(tax's) it should be done for no profit but you watch how we stay criminals and they use someone else's money to grow and deal legally making large profit off sick and dying people.

[lookinggoodguys]

 

Yep may never get to be operational just a political gesture to the family and dan. Will have to watch and see how many years it will take before one plant is even planted.

[Green Reaper]

One has to die before one gets their own farm.  "A grower is yet to be approved"  i bet its Bronwyn Bishop

 

"We see it as a new Australian primary industry"   Fkn hypocrite Cnts.. We are criminals but they can plant 47 hectares for profit   Fcker better do a grow diary here.

 

Its our money not theirs(tax's) it should be done for no profit but you watch how we stay criminals and they use someone else's money to grow and deal legally making large profit off sick and dying people.

No individual, corporation, business etc. should be allowed to profit from another's misery.

[Sir PsychoHashy]

I near burst a poopy valve when this story came on the news, I actually got told to leave the room until I calmed down so I wouldn't upset the rest of the family.  Hoping I'm calm enough now to not turn into another massive rant

 

Once you understand the Haslam family's position in their local community, you understand how they got treated as wonderful groundbreaking campaigners instead of criminals and pariahs when they went public, and it's not just that dad was an ex local drug squad D, they're in with Tamworth's self titled elite to a degree, including people in the local media.  All that together not only enabled her to get away with something that would have gotten me a visit from Mr Haslams' ex colleagues, but got her agenda pushed hard in the media, once that gained enough traction for that fuckwit Jones to get involved (a whole other shitty rant), the pollies felt they needed to get involved, and have since successfully fucked up the direction of cannabis law reform.  Now she's become a political hot potato that no pollie wants to be seen taking a stand against, so they're doing whatever they can to keep her on their side.  Compare her local Fed Member Barnaby 2 brain cells Joyce's first comment in response to Lucy's campaign to what he said at that media event, it's such a joke it's not funny.

 

So that's how that family has somehow managed pre approval for something that hasn't been legislated for at a state level, and is even making noises about doing stuff which by my understanding is not allowed under the federal legislation (though I could be wrong), as in processing as well as growing.   It's also worth noting that they sold a business a long time ago to finance the farm purchase, so they already knew they were a shoe in, and she's most definitely in it for the money now

 

The whole thing sickens me, when I should be ecstatic that some legal progress is being made, but what we're getting looks like big corporate and big pharma centric, and some bitch who would love to see each and every member of this site locked up in jail with Bubba the sex starved giant gets pre approved in back room deals for political gain, while people like Tony Bowers seem to be getting butt raped by the whole process after all the selfless good they have done.  Where is the fucking justice?

 

And that's my calm version. 

Edited April 21, 2016 by Sir PsychoHashy

[MongyMan]

The problem is that all these people just want a licence for them so they can sell you cannabis.. Tony included.

 

That's why I back groups like Medical Cannabis Advisory Board QLD, Ellomo Medical Cannabis and Cannabis Compassion Australia etc instead. Groups who are putting patients FIRST. People fighting for not for profit co-ops and compassion clubs rather than a corporate model of licenced pharmaceutical TGA cannabis.

 

MongyMan