Queensland is set to follow NSW into decriminalising cannabis for medicinal purposes. Source: AAP
STORIES of children with drug-resistant epilepsy have reportedly moved Queensland’s premier into announcing the state’s first trial of medicinal cannabis.
ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk will on Sunday announce Queensland will join with NSW in decriminalising the drug for trials involving patients with epilepsy, end-of-life pain and chemotherapy-related nausea, News Corp Australia reports.
The premier said she discussed the trials with her NSW counterpart Mike Baird on Friday during the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Canberra. “This trial is about letting the experts do as much research as possible into this issue so that we can all get a clearer understanding of any clinical benefits medicinal cannabis can provide,” Ms Palaszczuk said. She said she spoke with the mother of a boy who suffers uncontrollable epilepsy and is keen to allow medical experts to research whether cannabis can help him and others like him. NSW is spending $9 million over five years on three trials for medicinal cannabis to treat terminally ill patients, children with epilepsy, and cancer patients suffering from chemotherapy-related nausea. Queensland will work out details of its trial after discussion with NSW experts but is yet to determine how much it will commit to the program.