Medical Cannabis | Motion
28/10/2015
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I will speak very briefly to lend my support to this motion. I would like to say that over the years I have been in this parliament I have been advocating for many individuals and alongside several groups on behalf of people with severe and chronic pain who find it very difficult to get adequate access to the already legal medications that would, if provided to the appropriate level, go a long way to alleviate the suffering they experience day in and day out.
The suffering is often so great that they are not able to get out of bed, yet they have to because if they require these already legal medications to a certain level they have to go and pick up that medication. Sometimes it is a week’s supply and sometimes they can be given only a day’s supply at a time because of the level of the medication they require.
These people with severe, debilitating chronic pain are forced every day or every week to go and pick up that medication, that medication that is already legal. I am incredulous, I have to say, that I went many years before I could even get a meeting with the health minister in this state about this issue, let alone getting the health minister to actually meet with those people and not just dismiss them outright as addicts; yet in a situation where people are already going without medication, particularly the level of medication that they need, the level of legal medication that they need to live a dignified life, there is still so much panic about denying people access to a medical substance that could alleviate their suffering in some way.
I am not a doctor, I am not an expert in these matters, but I do know that I have dealt with several constituents, particularly over the last year, who have found no relief available to them through other substances and who have found relief through the use of medical cannabis. The Hon. Mr Darley has rightly pointed out that we need to separate the use of cannabis for recreational purposes and the use for medical purposes, because they are very different, so I will not go into that in any detail. The point I am trying to make is that it is hard enough for people to get an adequate level of legal medication where the benefits of that medication are already understood and accepted widely in society, yet there is still so much panic in a situation where someone is telling you, ‘I get relief from this medication.’
I have to say as well that I am bemused by the fact that we can still, under law, legally in this country perform a hysterectomy on a young person with a disability because they might experience heavy periods or they might have trouble with parenting or childbirth due to their disability. Under law we can perform a hysterectomy on young women and girls in certain circumstances because of perceived hardship because of disability. We can do that just in case these situations arise, yet it is so difficult to provide people with adequate access to a substance that they are saying does definitely alleviate their suffering right now—not perceived but right here and right now.
There is a real need for this substance. I am bemused by the disparity between these two situations. I would certainly like to see South Australia fully participate in a trial and I am pleased to see the government is open to that, especially where people have already exhausted their current legal options. As a society we need to take a strong stance and to have a mature debate on how we can put aside the moral panic and put aside the fact that yes, some drugs can be misused—and many drugs with an existing medical property are already misused.
I think we need to put aside the moral panic and have a mature, objective, responsible debate on how we can provide comfort and some dignity to those people who have, in many cases, as I have already said, exhausted their current options. With those few words, I will support the motion.
