Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity, Vol. 3(2) November 2015
by Laurence E Mather, Evert R Rauwendaal, Vivienne L Moxham-Hall & Alex D Wodak
The primary aim of this paper is to enhance the quality of debate and assist interested parties to consider relevant contemporary issues concerning the reintroduction into Australia of cannabis for medicinal purposes: it thereby builds on our previous work in which we outlined the
medical case.1 A secondary aim is to discuss some of the major areas where strong differences in opinion may currently be obstructing efforts to reform cannabis laws in Australia. It will be clear to the reader that the authors favour the case for legalising the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes by regulation and control, analogous to the means used for other clinically-useful drugs open to non-therapeutic uses.
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Please support UIC's patient advocacy, education & philanthropic
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MEDICINAL CANNABIS - General Papers
The Medical Journal of Australia, 16 December 2013
by Laurence E Mather, Evert R Rauwendaal, Vivienne L Moxham-Hall and Alex D Wodak
The medicinal use of Cannabis (Box) was prohibited in Australia some 50 years ago, at a time when scientific knowledge about it was meagre. It is now clear that cannabis has genuine medicinal utility, but this has been largely overlooked, with research and society’s attention, in most parts of the world, being directed towards the hazards of its recreational use rather than the benefits of its medicinal use.1,2 We maintain that consideration of policy for Medicinal Cannabis should be kept separate from consideration of recreational Cannabis...
The Medical Journal of Australia, 2 February 2015
Emeritus Professor David Penington
Australia is behind the times on the medical use of cannabis.
The debate about the medical use of cannabis in Australia has become confused with the proposal for a formal clinical trial instead of proceeding to legislation in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Debates about prohibition of cannabis have a long history,1 as has the proposal for medical cannabis in Australia.2 Politicians are nervous about being “soft on drugs”, especially before an election. The clinical trial proposed, if successful, presumes that cannabis would then be approved and regulated as a pharmaceutical substance.
We need to be across the facts and options. Cannabis can never be a pharmaceutical agent in the usual sense for medical prescription, as it contains a variety of components of variable potency and actions, depending on its origin, preparation and route of administration. Consequently, cannabis has variable effects in individuals. It will not be possible to determine universally safe dosage of cannabis for individuals based on a clinical trial...
2015
Emeritus Professor Laurence Mather
Anaesthesia, The University of Sydney
Not many generations ago, most medicines were prepared as mixtures, tinctures and elixirs from natural sources, typically as extracts from plants or animal parts. As pharmaceutical sciences advanced, it was recognized that particular chemicals in those extracts could provide the effects being sought medically...
CANNABIS INDICA, CANNABIS sativa, Cannabis americanus, Indian hemp and marijuana (or marihuana) all refer to the same plant. Cannabis is used throughout the world for diverse purposes and has a long history characterized by usefulness, euphoria or evil-depending on one's point of view. To the agriculturist cannabis is a fiber crop; to the physician of a century ago it was a valuable medicine; to the physician of today it is an enigma; to the user, a euphoriant; to the police, a menace; to the traffickers, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow. This paper is concerned primarily with the medicinal aspects of cannabis...
