The paradox at the heart of the medical cannabis industry
There's a paradox at the heart of the medical cannabis industry. While optimism about its future is tremendous, evidence for its effectiveness is patchy to poor.
Highly trained experts in the field know this very well but have a powerful conviction that cannabis will deliver, soon.
One such expert, Michael Dor, is in Australia to give a keynote speech to 2000 GPs at a conference on the Gold Coast this week.
He will tell them that not only is cannabis moving from an illegal substance to a promising medicine, but in the near future it will also become a first-line treatment. It will not just be used after other drugs have failed, it will be used first.
Dr Dor is senior medical adviser for the Israeli government's Medical Cannabis Unit. Israel is a global leader in the field and the cannabis unit is responsible for the regulation, licensing and approval of medical cannabis and all Israeli doctors who prescribe it.
More than 37,000 people out of a population of 9 million have now used medical cannabis, giving Israel one of the highest proportions of treated patients in the world.
