BackFriday, 3 March 2017
Get growing and get going for patients say MPs
Joint Media release with The Greens, Liberals & Xenophon Team
SA MPs unite to combat the ‘mirage’ of access to medical cannabis
Greens, Liberal, Dignity and Xenophon members of the state’s upper house today hosted a forum to listen to voices of health consumers, doctors and the medical cannabis industry about the barriers still in place to accessing medical cannabis in South Australia.
Quotes attributable to Greens MLC Tammy Franks :
“Actual patient access to legal medical cannabis in our state is still only a mirage. A full year after the federal bill passed and over three months since medical cannabis has been technically legal in South Australia and all the Weatherill Government has to show for it is a discussion paper. We have not a single authorised prescriber, we are still seeing sick, and suffering people made criminals.”
Dignity Party Kelly Vincent MLC stated:
“With growing evidence that cannabis can provide profound therapeutic benefits, it’s time for government to play catch up on this vital issue before South Australia ends up on the wrong side of history. With medical cannabis now legalised federally, there are significant opportunities for SA. If the Weatherill Labor Government get their act together, we can provide treatment options for people with medical conditions or chronic pain unable to get relief from elsewhere, and provide industry and employment prospects for a state with high unemployment.”
Liberal Shadow Health Minister, Stephen Wade stated: “The Turnbull Liberal Government has done the heavy lifting to put in place a framework at the Federal level for medical cannabis to be cultivated and manufactured. It’s now up to each state to provide a patient access pathway. Yet again the Weatherill Government lags behind, denying care for people in need.”
Nick Xenophon Team’s John Darley MLC: “It is important that all sides of the story are told. This will give us the opportunity to hear about all aspects of the debate rather than just the restricted views that the government allowed at their roundtable.”
Quotes attributable to Ben Fitzsimons of the Australian Cannabis Corporation: “No industry exists without customers. If no one is able to access your product you don’t have a business. This is why the patient access scheme for Medical Cannabis is critical to get right. Patients need to be able access Medical Cannabis as easily as any other drug prescribed to them.”