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NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has described Labor leader Luke Foley's suggestion to abandon clinical trials into medicinal cannabis as "irresponsible", saying police have been given every discretion to allow terminally ill patients to ease their pain.
Mr Foley said on Sunday that NSW needed a more ambitious medicinal cannabis program than the scheme being proposed by the Baird government.
The NSW government is planning a $9 million trial for medicinal cannabis that has the potential to treat children with severe epilepsy, terminally ill adults and those undergoing chemotherapy.
Under new guidelines, police will have the discretion not to charge terminally-ill cannabis users and carers who assist them for breaking drug laws.
Speaking in Sydney, Mr Foley said a "more ambitious" approach, involving changes to drug laws, was needed.
"The law should disappear from the statute books," Mr Foley told reporters in Strathfield.
"I'd like to see us cross party lines here and change the law so that the terminally ill and their loved ones need never fear prosecution.
"I want to ... give people experiencing terrible pain and suffering some hope."
Mr Foley said he wanted the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act changed "as a matter of urgency" in the first sitting week of parliament after the March state election.
He said if a state trial on medicinal cannabis were to take place, "it should be far quicker than what's envisaged in NSW".
"I think we can go forward without a trial, personally," Mr Foley added.
Mrs Skinner said the government was happy to work in a bipartisan manner.
"But it would be simply irresponsible to abandon clinical trials into the role cannabis-derived medicinal products can play in improving health outcomes for people suffering chronic illness," she said in a statement.
"The clinical trials will proceed because they represent the most responsible way to explore how medicinal cannabis-derived products can provide relief for a range of patients, including children.
"The trials will bring together leading NSW clinicians and researchers and draw on international best practice.
"To abandon the trials would be to leave families who are already facing the greatest crisis of their lives without the guidance, confidence and support they need.
"In the interim, as far as terminally ill patients are concerned, we have given police every discretion to allow patients and their carers to alleviate their symptoms."
Mr Foley said he had not yet talked to NSW Premier Mike Baird about the issue.
Overseas trials, especially in Israel, showed that for some terminally ill people "cannabinoid treatments are the only effective measure of pain relief", Mr Foley said.
He pointed to a pharmaceutical product used to treat multiple sclerosis, saying it could possibly be used in NSW as part of a medicinal cannabis program.
"There has to be more work done on the supply side," Mr Foley added.
The trial, announced by the Baird government in December, will first have to overcome logistical hurdles in importing medical cannabis from Europe or the US.
If permission is denied, the government has indicated it could grow its own cannabis crop.
Mr Baird has previously stressed that the drug remains illegal.
News Moderator: 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Labor's plan to abandon cannabis trials 'irresponsible', says health minister Jillian Skinner
Author: Sam McKeith
Contact: Support
Photo Credit: Dean Osland
Website: Australian Breaking News Headlines & World News Online | SMH.com.au
Mr Foley said on Sunday that NSW needed a more ambitious medicinal cannabis program than the scheme being proposed by the Baird government.
The NSW government is planning a $9 million trial for medicinal cannabis that has the potential to treat children with severe epilepsy, terminally ill adults and those undergoing chemotherapy.
Under new guidelines, police will have the discretion not to charge terminally-ill cannabis users and carers who assist them for breaking drug laws.
Speaking in Sydney, Mr Foley said a "more ambitious" approach, involving changes to drug laws, was needed.
"The law should disappear from the statute books," Mr Foley told reporters in Strathfield.
"I'd like to see us cross party lines here and change the law so that the terminally ill and their loved ones need never fear prosecution.
"I want to ... give people experiencing terrible pain and suffering some hope."
Mr Foley said he wanted the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act changed "as a matter of urgency" in the first sitting week of parliament after the March state election.
He said if a state trial on medicinal cannabis were to take place, "it should be far quicker than what's envisaged in NSW".
"I think we can go forward without a trial, personally," Mr Foley added.
Mrs Skinner said the government was happy to work in a bipartisan manner.
"But it would be simply irresponsible to abandon clinical trials into the role cannabis-derived medicinal products can play in improving health outcomes for people suffering chronic illness," she said in a statement.
"The clinical trials will proceed because they represent the most responsible way to explore how medicinal cannabis-derived products can provide relief for a range of patients, including children.
"The trials will bring together leading NSW clinicians and researchers and draw on international best practice.
"To abandon the trials would be to leave families who are already facing the greatest crisis of their lives without the guidance, confidence and support they need.
"In the interim, as far as terminally ill patients are concerned, we have given police every discretion to allow patients and their carers to alleviate their symptoms."
Mr Foley said he had not yet talked to NSW Premier Mike Baird about the issue.
Overseas trials, especially in Israel, showed that for some terminally ill people "cannabinoid treatments are the only effective measure of pain relief", Mr Foley said.
He pointed to a pharmaceutical product used to treat multiple sclerosis, saying it could possibly be used in NSW as part of a medicinal cannabis program.
"There has to be more work done on the supply side," Mr Foley added.
The trial, announced by the Baird government in December, will first have to overcome logistical hurdles in importing medical cannabis from Europe or the US.
If permission is denied, the government has indicated it could grow its own cannabis crop.
Mr Baird has previously stressed that the drug remains illegal.
News Moderator: 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Labor's plan to abandon cannabis trials 'irresponsible', says health minister Jillian Skinner
Author: Sam McKeith
Contact: Support
Photo Credit: Dean Osland
Website: Australian Breaking News Headlines & World News Online | SMH.com.au
