Medicinal cannabis will be used to treat children with severe epilepsy as part of a clinical trial in New South Wales.
The NSW Government will also fund trials of the drug’s use on terminally ill adults and chemotherapy patients who suffer nausea and vomiting as a result of their treatment.
Premier Mike Baird said up to $9 million would be spent on at least three trials of cannabis-derived medicines to examine the benefits for patients suffering a range of debilitating illnesses.
Mr Baird, who announced the formation of a working group to set up a medical marijuana trial in September, said the Government would consider importing or producing cannabis once it had clinical evidence the drug could reduce suffering.
The NSW Ministry of Health and the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network have begun preliminary development work on the paediatric epilepsy trial, which is expected to start enrolling patients in 2016.
The epilepsy trial will be run through the The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick.
The state’s chief medical officer, Kerry Chant, will lead an expert panel to assess the benefits of cannabis-derived medicines.
Mr Baird said he had spoken to parents and patients “who are increasingly desperate to trial a cannabis-based product to better manage serious illnesses”.
“This is a bold plan and one that will utilise the expertise of NSW-based clinicians and researchers, and draw on research developments from across the globe,” Mr Baird said in a statement announcing the trials.
“Once we have the clinical evidence that medical cannabis can reduce suffering then the Government will consider a range of supply measures, including importation.
“But if that does not prove successful then the Government will assume responsibility for supply itself.”
The Government’s support for medical marijuana trials followed moves by Nationals MP Kevin Anderson to develop a bill to decriminalise it earlier this year.
Mr Anderson declared his intention to develop the bill after meeting Daniel Haslam, a 24-year-old bowel cancer sufferer who was using cannabis to relieve the side effects of chemotherapy.