The peak body representing Victorian doctors has backed state opposition leader Daniel Andrews in calling for cannabis to be examined for medical use, but stressed the drug must undergo Australian clinical trials first.



Andrews announced on Sunday morning that if elected in November Labor would seek advice from the Victorian Law Reform Commission on the prescription, manufacture and distribution of medical cannabis.

Andrews ruled out legalising recreational use of the drug but said it could be used to treat Victorians with life-threatening and chronic conditions.

“In some cases parents are forced to choose between breaking the law and watching their child suffer,” Andrews said.

“Children are in pain, families are suffering, people are living in fear and outdated laws are getting in the way.”

The president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Tony Bartone, said by reassessing the state’s laws around cannabis clinical trials could begin to determine how useful it is for certain ailments.

“The evidence shows it may have a role to play in certain conditions,” Bartone said.



“But Australia has one of the safest therapeutic guidelines systems in the world, which means just like any other medication that goes onto the market, cannabis must go through the same regulatory and research trials so we can determine dosage and how to best administer it.”



Existing trials from other parts of the world had found it may be beneficial in pain management and for the treatment of certain muscle spasticity disorders, he said. But it could also bring forward psychosis in some people prone to it, he said.



“It’s not enough that its being used in other parts of the world,” Bartone said.



“We need to satisfy ourselves and our own high standards by reproducing existing studies. We pride ourselves on an excellent healthcare system in Australia and we need to maintain that accordingly.”



Victorian families have been publicly campaigning for the drug to be used medically, saying it has successfully treated their chronically ill children when other medicines have not. Cannabis is currently not used as a first-line treatment for any conditions.



The Victorian health minister, David Davis, in July said he had no plans to legalise the drug, but now says he will revisit the subject.



“Well I think this is a complex issue, an issue where the community has a significant range of views,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“But equally what’s important is that we focus on scientific evidence available. We’re very aware of the views of a number of people and a number of families who have strong positions.”



He added he was not able to comment on the scientific evidence for its medicinal use but said he had asked his chief adviser to provide a report to him.

“I will see what material comes back from that and that will better inform me and the government,” he said.

A psychiatrist and academic at the University of NSW, Matthew Large, has written about the dangers of cannabis but says his views towards cannabis legalisation have become more libertarian.



He had previously allowed Aids patients with neuropathy to use the substance and it had seemed to help them, he said.



“Going halfway by simply decriminalising it doesn’t really help us because then we’re just giving a free kick to drug dealers,” he said.



“But it it was legalised, then it could come in packages with health warnings on it like cigarettes do.



“I used to have the view doctors shouldn’t have a view about the ethics and policy of legalisation and civil libertarian issues, and I was also quite influenced by how irrational and hostile the pro-cannabis lobby was and I wouldn’t want to be on the same platform as them.



“But I’ve been reassured that that in some states in the US that have legalised it, it hasn’t led to an increase in young people smoking cannabis and experiments in Spain and the Netherlands also haven’t ended catastrophically.”

