QUEENSLAND’S Labor government is adopting the same “wait and see” approach to medical marijuana of other states as NSW presses ahead with clinical trials.
CHILDREN with severe epilepsy, chemotherapy and terminal illness patients will be among the subjects of clinical trials in NSW announced in December.
Ultimately the trials boiled down to compassion, Premier Mike Baird said at the time. Queensland’s former premier Campbell Newman had said he was sympathetic to the idea but any decision should be based on information from the National Health and Medical Research Council. The new government is approaching the issue with similar hesitancy. While supportive of the NSW trials, Queensland Police Minister Jo-Ann Miller said the government would wait to see the findings from NSW as the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) also investigated the issue. “We believe that medical marijuana does have an opportunity for clinical expertise, particularly in relation to cancer,” she said at a drug and alcohol conference in Brisbane on Wednesday. “However, we are waiting for those clinical trials in NSW to be undertaken and we’d also encourage the TGA to hasten the process.” Ms Miller acknowledged the community is waiting for a national response and urged the TGA to “get moving on it”. She said there would be a delay of around 12 months for the NSW trials to begin “because there’s a lot of clinical expertise that is needed to be put in place”. “So I think its one step towards a future of medical marijuana in Australia.” The slow progress will provide little comfort to the parents of terminally ill children, including those from a lobby group who last year accused Labor and the LNP of taking a back seat on the issue. Sharing that frustration is a Cairns father whose case this week returned to court after he allegedly used cannabis oil to treat his cancer-stricken toddler. The 30-year-old was charged with supplying dangerous drugs to a minor. The child is being treated for neuroblastoma cancer. His arrest in January outside Brisbane’s Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, where his daughter was receiving chemotherapy, sparked outrage among medical cannabis advocates. The man was originally prohibited from making contact with his ill child, but his bail conditions were later altered to allow supervised visits. The case will return to the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.