Australia’s Senate voted last week to establish an inquiry into barriers to patients accessing medicinal cannabis – and there are plenty of them.

A motion by Greens leader Richard Di Natale sought a wide-ranging inquiry covering issues including:

Barriers confronting patients trying to access medicinal cannabis in Australia will be scrutinised in a Parliamentary inquiry into how the drug is regulated.

The Greens said the medicinal cannabis system is “broken” and in urgent need of reform as their push for an inquiry into access to the drug won support in the Senate on Thursday.

But the Federal government has rejected the need for review saying it continues to enable access to medicinal cannabis for those in need while maintaining safeguards of its use.

Good news, Western Aussies!

Western Australia has substantially chilled out with regard to its medical cannabis rules.

The general practitioners will be permitted to write prescriptions for medical cannabis, whereas they were previously obliged to refer patients for treatment with a specialist to qualify for a prescription for the drug. The Department of Health reviewed three years of prescription-related data before rendering the decision.

Although the rules have been relaxed for most, not all patients will enjoy the increased access to cannabinoid-based treatment options. Patients with a history of drug abuse will still need a specialist’s approval to obtain a prescription for medical cannabis, as will patients under the age of 16.

It is estimated that close to a million patients are now seeking access to medicinal cannabis in Australia alone. 

Government figures show around 20,000 patients now have approvals for access to legal medicinal cannabis products. 

Many patients are, the MCUA reports,  still having to turn to the “black” market or are self supplying because access to and cost of the majority of legal medicinal cannabis products is way beyond their financial reach.

Managing Director of Cannabis Doctors Australia (CDA), Dr Matua Jansen, explains how CDA is leading the charge towards providing simple and affordable access to medical cannabis.

For Dr Matua Jansen, the journey towards becoming a medical cannabis advocate started after his move to Australia from New Zealand to work in Oncology. “ I witnessed first-hand the side effects chemotherapy, and the over-use of prescription opioids were having on my patients, but it wasn’t until I had a patient who one day refused chemotherapy, and asked me about medicinal cannabis treatment that I started to really look at it as a viable option.

On 25 September, 2019, the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) approved a law permitting personal cultivation, possession and use of cannabis for recreational purposes.

ACT has passed the law that permits personal cannabis growing as the act describes the objective as a ‘harm minimisation approach’, stating that ‘the outright prohibition model of drug policy is not working’.

Chronic insomnia sufferers in the Australian state of New South Wales are being invited to join a research study that involves testing a cannabis medication.

Most of us would have experienced insomnia at some point of our lives, usually connected with stressful events. As many as half of us could be experiencing insomnia in some form at any given time.

Chronic insomnia is where significant problems occur with getting or staying sleep more than three nights a week for three months or more. Chronic insomnia isn’t just unpleasant – it can result in poor decision-making, strain on relationships and pose a significant safety risk to the sufferer and those around them.

The ACT Government has hit back at warnings from the United Nations that legalising cannabis will breach international law, telling the body to instead look at the United States and Canada where the laws go further.

Australia, along with more than 200 other countries, signed three international conventions agreeing to certain rules about illicit drug use and restrictions about medications.

Australian Attorney General Christian Porter said on Sunday that Canberra’s new legislation legalizing possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use do not provide legal protection and clash with federal laws.

In September, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) became the first of the country’s six states and two main territories to legalize the possession of up to 50 grams per person of cannabis for personal use, with the law set to come into effect from Jan. 31, 2020.

In Australia, the New South Wales Government is plowing $3 million into a $10 million medicinal cannabis industry study to be carried out at a secret location in the state.

The study is a collaborative affair involving the NSW and Australian Federal Governments, Cann Group Ltd, Aglive, Southern Cross University and the University of Newcastle.

According to a NSW Government release, the initiative will result in more than triple the number of researchers working to ensure cannabis plants contain the highest medicinal benefit for patients and will delve into all aspects of the supply chain – from cultivation to traceability.