Pubdate: Mon, 25 Aug 2014
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2014 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Henrietta Cook
Page: 3

LABOR WILL PURSUE CANNABIS REFORM

Medical cannabis will be legalised in Victoria if Labor seizes power 
at November's state election.

Under the proposal, Victorians with terminal illnesses or life 
threatening conditions such as cancer, Parkinson's disease and 
multiple sclerosis would be able to access medicinal marijuana 
without breaking the law.

Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said on Sunday that Labor would 
overhaul "outdated" legislation that forced parents to flout laws in 
order to save their children's lives.

" We're talking about a medication to make people better, to improve 
quality of life, to provide dignity and pain relief, nothing more, 
nothing less," Mr Andrews said.

Labor pledged that if it won the November election it would seek 
advice from the Victorian Law Reform Commission on ways of 
decriminalising the use of medical cannabis. The commission will also 
be asked to create a regulatory framework by next August, with Labor 
hoping to have legislation before Parliament by the end of 2015.

Mr Andrews was joined by the O'Connell family, including nine-year- 
old Tara, who has Dravet syndrome and suffered more than 100 life- 
threatening seizures a day before she started taking medical cannabis 
in 2012. She has not had a seizure since she was treated with 
cannabis oil, which she sources from NSW.

Mr Andrews stressed that Labor would not legalise the recreational 
use of marijuana or smoking marijuana for medical reasons, and said 
cannabis should only be available for sick people in "exceptional 
circumstances".

" Children are in pain, families are suffering, people are living in 
fear, and outdated laws are getting in the way," Mr Andrews said.

The move follows a number of public campaigns by Victorian families.

Tara's mother Cheri O'Connell said Labor's proposal meant she could 
keep her daughter alive without the constant threat of child 
protection authorities and police knocking on her door.

" Every day we give a dose and we don't know if someone is going to 
come knocking," Ms O'Connell said.

She said there were about 30 families in Victoria using medical 
cannabis and some parents were growing the marijuana themselves. " 
That scares me. We need a framework so we can walk into a chemist and 
pick up a script," she said.

Just three weeks ago, a Labor spokesman told The Age that the party 
had no plans to legalise medical cannabis.

But Mr Andrews said sitting down with Tara and "a lot of other 
research" had made him change his mind.

Australian Medical Association Victorian president Dr Tony Bartone 
welcomed the move.

" There is a growing body of evidence on cannabis as an effective 
treatment for some types of chronic pain, the control of muscle 
spasticity, some forms of nausea and as an appetite-stimulant in 
patients with weight loss due to cancer or HIV," he said.

With Anna Whitelaw
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom