Medicinal Cannabis Report Palaszczuk Should Act Now

The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has called on the Palaszczuk government to immediately legalise medicinal cannabis no matter what the outcome of the final report of the Senate committee reviewing the Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2014.

“Action needs to be taken now to relieve the suffering of thousands of our fellow citizens. Drug war ideology should not be allowed to stand in the way” says Mr Cope.

Mr Cope noted the renewed push for legalisation of medicinal cannabis had been inspired by a handful of brave souls who had chosen to go public with their medical use of cannabis for symptoms unrelieved by legal drugs.

To those who demanded that the government should wait for a TGA-style process before legalising medicinal cannabis, Mr Cope offered two rebuttals.

“Australian clinical trials are not a reasonable justification for delaying immediate legalisation, especially when the vast majority of over 100 published research trials have already demonstrated the efficacy of medicinal cannabis for a variety of medical conditions”, Mr Cope continued.

“Thousands of Queenslanders who could benefit from medicinal uses of cannabis can’t wait years for clinical trials to be completed and turned into legislation”, Mr Cope said.

“Clinical trials are no guarantee of safety. The pain relief drug Vioxx, went through a rigorous TGA/FDA government approval process in Australia. But Vioxx had to be withdrawn after reports revealed it was killing patients ”, Mr Cope said.

“Reliable suppliers of quality plant material are quickly identified by trial and error in the street market,” he continued.  “Hemp oil drops ingested by mouth take longer to act but the community of hemp oil users has already generated ultra-cautious protocols that manage the dose issue successfully.”

Together with HEMP, QCCL is to hold a forum on the benefits of medicinal cannabis and the prospects for federal law reform on Sunday 16 August 2015.  Details will be available on the QCCL website: http://qccl.org.au/, together with a copy of QCCL’s submission to the senate committee.

                                                            ENDS

For further information contact Michael Cope President QCCL on 07 3223 5939 during office hours and at all times on 0432 847 154                    28 May 20015