In Queensland the Public Health (Medicinal Cannabis) Bill 2016 was released on 1st March 2016 and has been released for public consultation. The purpose of the Bill is to create a new regulatory framework under which medicinal cannabis products may be prescribed and dispensed to patients in Queensland while also preventing unauthorised use of these products. The proposed regulatory framework provides a formalised process for doctors to follow if they want approval to prescribed medicinal cannabis as part of their patient’s overall treatment.
The move could help patients like 17-year-old Lindsay Carter, from Brisbane, who lives with a brain tumour, intractable epilepsy, chronic pain and nausea. He visited the US four times in 2014, where he received treatment including medicinal marijuana and saw his tumour reduce in size. But when he returned to Australia he stopped using the oil and it grew three millimetres in three months.
After a long process, Lindsay was granted the TGA Special Access Scheme late last year and is awaiting final approval. The tumour is now shrinking or stable and, while he still has seizures, he has no oedema (watery fluid in cavities) around the brain.
A growing body of clinical evidence shows the potential therapeutic benefits of certain forms of medicinal cannabis for treating particular medical conditions or their symptoms. There is evidence to suggest medicinal cannabis can effectively manage the symptoms of some forms of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and to relieve the side effects of treatments for cancer and HIV/AIDS to name but a few.
To have your say on these changes, visit the Queensland Government’s Get Involved website and submit your feedback by completing the online survey by 5pm 1 April 2016.
The link to the feedback site is: https://www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au/…/consult…/2911/view.html
You can view the Bill at:
https://www.health.qld.gov.au/…/medicin…/2016-02-18-bill.pdf
Author
