Oh, what a week it’s been. On Tuesday the Victorian government became the first in Australia to legalise medicinal cannabis, passing the Access to Medicinal Cannabis Bill, to give patients legal access to the drug in exceptional circumstances.
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Children with severe epilepsy will be given the first access to the drug, grown and cultivated by the government, from early 2017.
A special office will be established, to oversee the manufacturing of the drug and all clinical aspects of the framework.
It comes after federal legislation was passed back in February, paving the way for the most recent change to the law down south.
Yesterday, in our own backyard, another step towards relief for patients in this state came closer when local medicinal cannabis campaigner Lucy Haslam was joined by Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, the NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant and local dignitaries to inspect a potential site for the growing of medicinal cannabis in the New England.
Few would argue that this day has been a long time coming in NSW, where it’s taken a very personal and inspirational battle to bring the cause to the fore.
The next step will be to obtain a licence to operate the farm.
It’s a multimillion-dollar investment for the government – $9 million has been promised over five years to be spent on a series of trials – while the legal framework still has to be measured out as well.
Yesterday’s visit was a solid endorsement of the role this region will play in the future of the development of a medicinal cannabis industry in Australia, and fair enough too, given those very personal connections.
It’s almost like the lawmakers are finally catching up to a popularly held view – and comes off the back of a Roy Morgan poll conducted last year which showed about 91 per cent of Australians would support the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
Despite these latest steps – you could argue we’re still way behind when it comes to compassionate access to the drug on world terms, but at least we’re on the road and there’s a genuine commitment to getting it right first time.
