A TAMWORTH medical marijuana crusader has launched a scathing broadside at the Australian Medical Association (AMA) amid fears cannabis medicine legalisation could be “many years away”.
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The NSW government this month announced it would conduct clinical trials into marijuana’s effectiveness in treating a range of conditions, a move some are viewing as a delaying tactic to legalisation due to pressure from the powerful doctors’ lobby group.
Just 10 weeks out from its trial report deadline, the government is yet to even publicly announce who is on its working party.
The AMA is staunchly against legalising – or even trialling – the raw plant or any of its oils for medical use, instead backing only cannabis-based pharmaceuticals.
In New Zealand, where cannabis pharmaceuticals are already available, an average prescription costs patients about $1000 a month.
Tamworth mum and medical marijuana advocate Lucy Haslam said she suspected the AMA was doing the bidding of large pharmaceutical companies.
“I am extremely concerned by the AMA and I believe they are being unhealthily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry,” Mrs Haslam said.
“This is more than just a proposed clinical trial for a new medication.
“This is a trial for a medication that’s already being used and already being found by sick people to be a help to them.”
Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson, who was due to lodge a private member’s bill calling for medical marijuana reform before the trials were announced, said despite the delay, terminally ill users were still protected.
“We have indemnified those who use cannabis for medical purposes so they won’t be charged during the trial period,” Mr Anderson said.
“But at the moment, there’s no way people can know what the potency of their cannabis medicine is.
“It makes it very difficult for the medical profession to tick a box and say this stuff works if they haven’t done trials in a local setting.”
He remained confident new medical marijuana laws would be drafted “sooner rather than later”.
He said he was unsure if the working party had yet been formed.
Dr Tony Bartone, head of the AMA’s Victorian branch, said the organisation was simply requiring the same checks and balances it would for any other new drug.
“We know the composition between leaves can vary depending on where it’s sourced, how it’s grown, and what time of year it’s harvested,” Dr Barton said.
“What we are seeking to do is exactly what any other new medicine would be required to do coming onto the market.”
Advocates for legalising cannabis without further trials say that taking the pharmaceutical route is both expensive and unnecessarily time-consuming, with hundreds of successful trials already conducted overseas.
