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Medicinal cannabis legalised in Victoria, child epilepsy patients to be given access from 2017

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-12/victoria-becomes-first-state-to-legalise-medicinal-cannabis/7321152

Victoria has become the first state in Australia to legalise the use of medicinal cannabis.

Children with severe epilepsy will be the first to access to the drug in 2017, Victoria's Health Minister Jill Hennessy said, after the Access to Medicinal Cannabis Bill passed Parliament.

The legislation enables the manufacture, supply and access to medicinal cannabis products in the state.

"We're starting with these children with severe epilepsy, whose lives have been shown to improve so significantly, because we know these children often don't make it until adulthood," Ms Hennessy said.

"We want to improve the quality of their life."

She said it also meant parents of children with the disorder have to purchase the drug illegally.

"I just think that in this day and age, it's unfair and unacceptable to ask a parent to make a decision between obeying the law and acting in the best interests of their child," she said.

"Those parents will no longer have that dilemma."

Ms Hennessy has said access to the drug — available in a variety of forms, including tinctures, oils, capsules, sprays and vaporisable liquids — would be rolled out gradually and eventually be made available to palliative care and those with HIV.

The Government said it would set up an Office of Medicinal Cannabis to oversee the manufacture of the drugs and would educate doctors and patients about their role and eligibility for the scheme.

An independent body will also provide advice on the introduction of the drug, which is also legal in more than 20 states in the United States, Spain and Israel.

Legislation to allow the cultivation of cannabis in Australia for medical or scientific purposes passed Federal Parliament in February.

The Victorian Government will undertaking a small-scale, strictly controlled cannabis cultivation trial at a Victorian research facility.

The Queensland Government last year announced that a trial to treat children with epilepsy with medicinal cannabis would take place this year.

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird this year announced 330 patients suffering nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy would take part in a clinical trial using a cannabis-derived tablet manufactured by a Canadian company.

The medicinal cannabis trial is the third of its kind in NSW after trials involving terminally ill patients and children with severe epilepsy.

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congrats Victorians ... may your babies be healthy and well :)

...so does that mean Victoria is the most intelligent and grownup part of govt in Aus?

shame the land of its namesake is as idiotic as they come so far

.. hope we catch you guys up one day on the peace and prosperity :)

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Happy for those families, appalled at the idiocy and vested interest behind the idiotic limited scope of those eligible. :angry:

 

Stop faking the funk and just make it fully legal already, and for fucks sake stop acting like we are talking about morphine or heroine here. It's cannabis, so no one is going to die, become addicted or question our idiotic system of government or the way they live their lives after taking it...

 

Actually I take back the latter two side effects. :rolleyes:

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This sort of legislation can appear to be a rearguard or delaying action - hoping to appease the average voter so they don't push for greater change. But, there are rumours about Victoria government possibly considering going further - so it seems like a good time to keep campaigning. 

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Still smells of shit to me.

 

 

The Victorian Government will undertaking a small-scale, strictly controlled cannabis cultivation trial at a Victorian research facility.

WHY? what don't they think it will grow under Victorian conditions or controlled indoor environments.....

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Wonder where they are going to get their stock from? Herbies? GHS? Bodhi?

It would be interesting to know exactly which strain(s) they are looking at, and why they chose them.

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Still smells of shit to me.

 

WHY? what don't they think it will grow under Victorian conditions or controlled indoor environments.....

 

Mate, it is an extremely poisonous and potentially fatal crop. Incredibly volatile chemicals are used in the drug labs where it is synthesized from various precursors. :o:excl:

 

No, wait, wrong drug..... :wink:

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You're going to be hard pressed to get an ageing demographic to accept legal weed. Fucking stoners, right? It's a positive step in the right direction and nobody's going to /really/ say no sick kids. The rest will come. Eventually.

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We are very far behind America when it comes to acceptance of marijuana use. I once said the old guard will die and things will change, i was wrong. Their ideas are insidious, they groom a new generation to be carbon copies to maintain the status quote. The arguments for the liberalization of marijuana laws has been staring in the face of governments since the 1960's yet half a century later we stand in a world where paramilitary forces armed to the teeth roll up in bearcat APC's and punish people ingesting elegantly arranged carbon atoms. The new push for marijuana is a wolf in sheeps clothing. We see it as progress but really the common citizen gets nothing, pharmaceutical companies will monopolize, lobby politicians to pass regulations and laws to diminish competition and the commoner who relaxes by imbibing herb will be as much a criminal as they are today.  

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Maybe. But it hasn't played out that way everywhere else that has gone down the legalisation route. 

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Actually, let me rephrase that. 

I'm having trouble thinking of anywhere that has really pursued legalisation where this:

the common citizen gets nothing, pharmaceutical companies will monopolize, lobby politicians to pass regulations and laws to diminish competition and the commoner who relaxes by imbibing herb will be as much a criminal as they are today.  

has come to pass. If anyone has a cannabis-specific example of this, the please share it - so that we can stop it from happening here!

 

Yes big pharma, and big money in general will try to make more money. But this does not have to mean the average person who wants a toke in the comfort of their home will get screwed. Colorado is not ideal in many ways. But it's true that people are making a lot of money there, and that you can grow your own if you are so inclined. 

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Election this year folks. Votes talk.

Contact your local member.

Mobilise. Be heard. Make a difference.  Don't complain if you don't do it.

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Actually, let me rephrase that. 

I'm having trouble thinking of anywhere that has really pursued legalisation where this:

the common citizen gets nothing, pharmaceutical companies will monopolize, lobby politicians to pass regulations and laws to diminish competition and the commoner who relaxes by imbibing herb will be as much a criminal as they are today.  

has come to pass. If anyone has a cannabis-specific example of this, the please share it - so that we can stop it from happening here!

 

Yes big pharma, and big money in general will try to make more money. But this does not have to mean the average person who wants a toke in the comfort of their home will get screwed. Colorado is not ideal in many ways. But it's true that people are making a lot of money there, and that you can grow your own if you are so inclined. 

 

The major difference in respect to Australia and America was Prop 215. They had a patchwork system of governance that depended on caregivers providing medicine. This enabled all sorts of people from hobbiests to entrepreneurs to engage with the industry providing skills and material support to advance it to the position it is in today. The wider public was also able to gain a more intimate understanding of the industry and alleviate 60 years of WOD propaganda . Australia has no such luck in this case and from the beginning of the talks about marijuana liberalization the government at state and federal levels made it very clear the industry will be the domain of pharmaceutical industries. I just don't see large corporations to willingly allow commoners to provide their own medicine, they loose their market. 

 

Glaukus, i totally agree. Mobilise. Be heard but be careful. 

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whole herb is considered medicine in other places...... Its being considered as controlled raw material here, its not a medicine until its prepared. Standardisation is the devil in the detail..... No-one is going to get actual cannabis.

 

I wouldn't be suprised at all if illicit cannabis laws are tightened up further, and done nationally instead of the state by state mess we have now.

 

"We want to improve the quality of their life." ....I call bullshit, this is politics not compassion.

 

I cant help but think of this:

 

 

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