Medicinal Cannabis Council Betrayal
Medicinal Cannabis Council Betrayal
Scrabble to get things together after campaigners blow whistle on Department of Health double-dealing - 6 Jan 2017
As if wrestling with the stable door while the horse is half in the paddock , the Federal Department of Health is in the throes of hurriedly creating an ‘ Australian Advisory Council on the Medicinal Use of Cannabis ’ after murmurings of discontent from patients and others finding themselves worse off than before laws were changed to ‘ legalise ’ medical pot .
The Government ’ s timing is as interesting as the announcement itself which came on 23rd December , hot on the heels of some unfortunate reports in the press . The first of these ( behind paywall ) appeared in the Australian Financial Review on 4th December and described how the industrial hemp firm Ecofibre had moved operations to the US amid claims Australian rules about growing the plant and manufacturing products from it were ‘ unworkable ’. The company includes millionaire philanthropist and highprofile medical cannabis campaigner Barry Lambert among its shareholders and provoked a clearly rattled Department of Health to issue a stern ( though factually incorrect ) rebuttal of the Lambert / Ecofibre allegations the following day .
But more unrest was to follow .
No sooner had the crossfire subsided than Lucy Haslam , founder of Australia ’ s biggest health charity / advocacy group United in Compassion , together with Dr Alex Wodak , a vastly experienced medic in drug and alcohol services and a veteran of drug law reform gave an ( audio ) interview to popular online magazine The Conversation .
In it , Mrs Haslam , who ’ d played a key role in pressurising the Government into legislating for medical cannabis after using the drug to treat the side-effects of her terminally ill son Dan ’ s chemotherapy , described , in essence , how she ’ d been hoodwinked by Federal lawmakers . Discussing regulations , the Government has wrapped around the drug ’ s use she claimed a ‘ bureaucratic nightmare ,’ had been created which was ‘ not going to translate into easy , safe affordable access for patients .’ In fact , she went on , ‘ it ’ s going to create an even bigger black market ’. She described the difficulties – some might call them insurmountable obstacles – faced by those wishing to access such medication and made it clear this wasn ’ t what she ’ d had in mind when liaising with policy-wonks prior to the legislation in February 2016 .
Worse still , she told of how promises had been broken and her involvement – during an election year – in some formidably high political manoeuvrings .
‘ At the time of Dan ’ s anniversary ,‘ she said , referring to the tragic death of her son aged just 24 in February 2015 , ‘ it was looking like Labor were going to call for the matter to go to Committee . The Government ’ s Health Ministry rang me and said ‘ look if you could get Labor to not require this to go to Committee we could get this legislation through ’.
So , that ’ s precisely what Mrs Haslam did , pleading with ALP top brass to forego what would have been an all too lengthy procedure . The Party agreed but on the proviso the Government appoint an Advisory Council to guide the writing of accompanying Regulations , something Mrs Haslam very much wanted as well .