QUEENSLAND has woken up – or at least arched its eyebrow and propped one lid open.

We can only hope that it will continue to emerge into consciousness.

Signing up to be part of NSW’s medical cannabis trial for suffering children and dying adults is a sign it is at least willing to listen to the people.

We should be grateful for small mercies.



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But nagging concerns about this whole positive medical movement linger.

It is concerning that NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the trials would not include crude cannabis, but a derivative – presumably in a pill.

This is presumably to head off any chance that the public might envisage children puffing on a plant and getting high.

Cynics might say this also ensures medical companies are not entirely cut out of the “revolution”, a concern raised any time consideration is given to allowing people access to their own herbal medicine and get off lucrative drug cocktails.

But making some sort of medical marijuana pill is like testing the nutritional value of tomatoes by getting someone to make it into tomato sauce first.

The power is already in the whole plant. The last thing they should do is to play with it too much.

media_camera NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the trials would not include crude cannabis, but a derivative – presumably in a pill.

And while there is a flurry of excitement, I fear it may all yet disappear into the ether. There has been talk of having to import the cannabis – as if it does not exist here already. The talk of recruitment of trial candidates is nebulous.

It seems strange that the trials are occurring at all, and not because they are at odds with society’s needs or expectations, or that the medical evidence needs to be gathered.

It seems strange that yet again, we are not prepared to learn from the findings of other nations. Australia may be an island, but must we always take this so literally?

More than 20 nations have already legalised medical cannabis and gone through the motions of checking the science and laying out the safety zones.

By insisting on tilling ground that has already been prepared by others, we are delaying the process of approvals – something we have become champions at in Australia.

media_camera It seems strange that yet again, we are not prepared to learn from the findings of other nations.

Medical cannabis is used in places more mature than here for relieving pain, muscular contortion, anxiety and as a salve for a tortured brain in the midst of an electrical storm. In many cases, it is found to do this far more effectively than pharmaceutical products.

Medical cannabis already exists in Australia. Sick people all around the country are already taking it to help with their pain and suffering.

The problem is they do so quietly because those who make and supply it, as well as those who use it, risk arrest.

It is ludicrous.

For the debate on this issue to be properly advanced, the recreational and medical uses of cannabis need to be separated, at least for now.

We need to stop talking about marijuana that is smoked for fun and cannabis oil that is taken for comfort and survival in the same conversation. And while it might be catchy, people need to stop calling medical cannabis “pot”.

Politicians need to stop making references to cannabis in this context as a gateway drug.

We need to grow up a bit and stop the oscillating Jekyll/Hyde approach of giggling teen and judgmental parent. The health-giving properties need to be discussed scientifically and maturely.

People who take medical cannabis are not going to get high, or bliss out.

Those seeking a party buzz would be sorely disappointed with the effects.

media_camera Mark Elliott has been campaigning for the legalisation of medical cannabis for his daughter Charlotte, who has a severe form of epilepsy. Picture: Dylan Coker

This week, a senate inquiry into the availability of new, innovative specialist cancer drugs has heard that the long approvals process and subsidy failures are killing Australians.

Because the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme was established to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people, key drugs in circulation and used to great effect overseas do not make it on the list. This makes the drugs needed by a handful simply too expensive for patients to acquire here.

The senate inquiry heard that half of all cancer deaths here are from rare or less common cancers and those patients need these medications most.

We are too slow to change in our approach to helping desperately ill people. Fresh thinking is required where both medical cannabis and the PBS are concerned.

And overwhelmingly, US President Barrack Obama was right this week when he said that where medical cannabis is concerned, we need to follow the science, not the ideology.

The science was in – 1000 years ago.

Email Jane Fynes-Clinton