Over the last year, calls for legalisation from patients with severe and chronic pain as well as terminal illnesses and conditions and those not receiving relief from conventional medicines (including many constituents) are reaching a crescendo that politicians are heeding.
This momentum stems from success of medicinal cannabis in Australia, stimulated partly by case reports detailing successful treatment of individual patients, as well as medicinal cannabis programs in several countries. The growing public support for legalising cannabis for medical use stems from:
An increasing number of case studies in Australia reporting the successful use of medicinal cannabis to treat patients.
The ever increasing number of countries that are legalising cannabis for medical use.
Growing Number of Patients using Medicinal Cannabis
In Australia, many patients already use cannabis to treat a range of conditions including:
Chronic pain
Arthritis
Migraine
Persistent nausea
Spinal cord injury
Spasms (spasticity)
Fibromyalgia
ME (chronic fatigue)
Neuralgia/neuropathy
HIV/AIDS
Multiple sclerosis
Cancer
Other neurological disorder
Glaucoma
PTSD
Epilepsy
There was a high level of satisfaction among sampled patients to date with the effects of cannabis in relation to the condition or symptom for which it was being used.
Over 60% of respondents reported reducing or ceasing use of other medication after starting to use cannabis. This finding is consistent with international surveys, which also reveal high rates of patient satisfaction.
Surveys have been considered evidence of good toleration of medical cannabis among many patients and are consistent with research case study results by Curus Medical. Growing Political Support for Legalisation
A NSW Working Party on the use of cannabis for medical purposes investigated the issues during 1999-2001. It recommended:
More medical research into cannabis products;
A compassionate medicinal cannabis scheme for appropriate patients, and;
A trial of exemption from prosecution for growing, possessing, or using cannabis for medical purposes.
In 2013, the NSW Parliament expressed in-principle support of the NSW government for the expanded use of medicinal cannabis for appropriate patient groups, further clinical trials, and ensuring the affordability of pharmaceutical cannabinoids. Overseas experience
Medicinal cannabis is currently legal or decriminalized in the Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Possession of (small amounts of) cannabis is generally tolerated or not penalized in Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Italy, and Switzerland. Many South and Central American Countries are working toward complete legalisation of cannabis as a means to reduce crime and alleviate suffering for terminally ill patients.
Canada changed its medical cannabis landscape in 2014 so that patients will buy supplies from licensed producers. In the Netherlands, medicinal cannabis was made available for patients with serious illnesses in 2003.
In the U.S.A., 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalised or decriminalised medicinal cannabis. States in the U.S. have utilised a range of different schemes for exemptions from prosecution and for supply.
In Israel, patients may receive licenses to grow their own supply under strict conditions, and cannabis produced by other licensed growers is distributed centrally.
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