Right: marijuana and politics are beginning to mix - at least in Australia, where the Hemp Party campaigns on a platform of legalisation of medical cannabis.
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Arguments in favour of immediately legalising the medicinal use of cannabis
1. Overseas clinical trials of medicinal cannabis have already shown it to be safe
Those who support the immediate legalisation of cannabis-based medicinal products claim that overseas trials have already indicated that these products are safe.
In an article titled '(Re)introducing medicinal cannabis', published in the Medical Journal of Australia(MJA) in 2013, the authors noted, 'Reviews of medicinal cannabis used under essentially controlled conditions indicate that the frequencies of both side effects and dependence are low. One specific review on side effects reported that they were modest, with only 10% of patients choosing to discontinue their treatment. A greater incidence was found for cannabis over placebo treatment for disorientation (4% v 0.5%), disturbance in attention (3.7% v 0.1%), feeling drunk (2.9% v 0.4%), euphoric mood (2.2% v 0.9%), depression (1.9% v 0.8%), memory impairment (1.4% v 0.1%) and dissociation (1.7% v 0.1%). Tolerance did not develop, and the review concluded that abuse or dependence "is likely to occur in only a very small proportion of recipients"'
Supporters of the immediate legalisation of medicinal cannabis claim that sufficient trials have already been conducted. The MJA article cited above concludes, 'There is certainly more to learn about medicinal cannabis, but we know more than enough to act now.'
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Greens Member for Molonglo, Shane Rattenbury, has stated, 'The evidence is already sufficiently strong to support the use of medicinal cannabis now, and the ACT Greens legislation proposes a sensible approach that allows those who have a genuine illness to access to a controlled amount of cannabis for legitimate medicinal use.
Mr Rattenbury further stated, 'Several significant inquiries have already reviewed the evidence for medicinal cannabis - including inquiries by the UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, the American Institute of Medicine, and two NSW committees - and all have supported its use for several conditions...
Do we really think that Australians are somehow different and that these overseas findings from trials are not applicable here?'
2. Cannabis products are already providing symptom relief to many seriously ill people
It has been claimed that many people in Australia are already successfully medicating with marijuana to treat a variety of conditions. It has also been noted that marijuana has already by used effectively as a medicine in a number of overseas jurisdictions.
At least 20 states in the United States have legalised marijuana for medical purposes.
A medical marijuana lobby group in the United States, Pain Management of America, states on its Internet site, 'Chronic pain treatment and management are challenging for patients and doctors, but medical marijuana may be able to provide chronic pain relief where many traditional chronic pain medications do not. Cannabinoids have well-documented analgesic properties that make medical marijuana an effective medicine to treat many cases of chronic pain syndrome. In scientific studies, most medical marijuana patients experience pain relief. Medical marijuana as a chronic pain management tool can reduce patients' pain and improve quality of life, without the same serious side effects associated with use of some pharmaceutical pain relievers.'
The site recommends medical marijuana as a treatment for arthritis, cancer and chemotherapy, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and nausea
A large number of families with children suffering regular, severe epileptic seizures have claimed that illegally acquired and administered marijuana oil has made an enormous difference to their children's health.
One Victorian family has stated of their daughter, '"She was dying, she could barely walk or talk, was unable to toilet herself and slept a similar cycle to a newborn.
We had basically been told that there was not too much more we could do, just to take her home and to love her and maybe if you are lucky she'll get to nine.'
The family have claimed that regular treatments with cannabis oil has brought about a dramatic improvement in the child's health. A recent neuropsychological assessment report by a leading doctor at Austin Health said the child's overall cognitive performances were 'significantly improved on those documented 12 months ago.'
3. People using cannabis medicinally for symptom relief are being criminalised
It has been claimed that people using marijuana to treat medical conditions should not run the risk of criminal prosecutions.
The Greens policy paper on the issue states, 'So many of us have been moved by the stories of families struggling with chronically ill children, who have resorted to medicinal cannabis and found it provides significant symptomatic relief and health benefits. These families should not live under the threat of criminalisation for treating their sick children. They have suffered enough. They deserve our compassion.'
The Greens propose that marijuana use for medical purposes should be immediately decriminalised. Their policy paper states, 'The Greens support de-criminalisation of possession, use, manufacture and sale of medicinal cannabis and believe the Law Reform Commission should advise on how best to achieve this.' The party is not seeking to change the laws regarding recreational use and it also favours further testing; however, it believes that medicinal marijuana should be made legally available in advance of further tests.
The newly elected Labor government in Victoria appears to have a similar position.
The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has stated, 'In some cases, parents are forced to choose between breaking the law and watching their child suffer...Children are in pain, families are suffering, people are living in fear, and outdated laws are getting in the way.'
4. Further clinical trials would be time-consuming, expensive and result in a more expensive end product
Opponents of further trials of medical marijuana claim that such trials will take a long time to complete, that they will cost a large amount to undertake and that the cost of these trails is likely to be passed on to the consumer in a more expensive treatment.
Referring to the proposed trials of medical marijuana in New South Wales, Greens MP John Kaye has stated, 'We have grave concerns that this will take a very long time.
There will be an awful lot of people who won't have access to medicinal cannabis maybe for three or five years.'
Mr Kaye also noted that the proposed trials will give no information on the efficacy of unprocessed marijuana. Mr Kaye stated, 'The premier's proposed clinical trial is important but it will take a long time and is unlikely to deliver a useful answer on the use of crude cannabis.'
In an editorial published in The Sydney Morning Herald on August 31, 2014, it was noted, 'Clinical drug trials are costly and time-consuming. The size of the local market is unknown but likely to be small.' Such a combination is likely to mean that the end product will be very expensive.
An ABC Background Briefing on the issue broadcast in October, 2014, stated, 'Clinical trials are expensive...A recent nine day Australian trial of Sativex (a treatment derived from marijuana) involving 51 people cost more than a million dollars.
If Sativex needs to be paid for, costs will balloon. In New Zealand, where it is already available, medical cannabis users say an average prescription costs the equivalent of $1000 a month.'
The same article also notes that the approach being taken within Australia will dramatically increase the cost of cannabis-based products. They express concern that the medicalisation of cannabis products not put them out of the price range of potential patients. They issue the warning 'If these options are...unaffordable, patients will cultivate their own supplies, purchase from the black market, or continue to suffer. In particular, older, debilitated or terminally ill patients should not be put in this position.'
5. Further trials and restrictions are the result of political conservatism
It has been claimed that the approach currently being demonstrated toward legalising medicinal cannabis in Australia is unnecessarily restrictive and grows out of political conservatism and a fear of appearing to support the recreational use of marijuana.
In May 2013, a New South Wales parliamentary committee comprising members of five political parties unanimously recommended making medicinal cannabis available for selected conditions. However, the committee recommended medicinal cannabis use in the following terms 'on the present medical evidence, cannabis based treatments will only be appropriate for a small number of people in specific circumstances, and under the supervision of medical practitioners with suitable expertise. Those patients would necessarily be people with severe and distressing symptoms that are not able to be addressed by existing medications'.
These restrictive recommendations have been challenged. In an article titled '(Re)introducing medicinal cannabis', published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2013, the authors cited British, American and German studies all of which recommend a far less conservative approach. They note that cannabis has already been shown to be beneficial for a large number of conditions and argue against a narrow, restrictive form of dispensing.
It has been suggested that Australian politicians are wary of allowing more general use of medicinal marijuana because it could lead to a relaxation of the prohibition against recreational cannabis.
In an article published in The Canberra Times, Dr Alex Wodak, president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, has stated, 'Perhaps the main reason for the official resistance is the fear that medicinal cannabis would undermine the prohibition of recreational cannabis. Australia uses morphine, cocaine, amphetamine and ketamine medically but the recreational use of these drugs is banned. If our politicians wanted to they could allow the medicinal use of cannabis but continue to prohibit its recreational use.'