Page 4335 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 30 November 1994
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It is well known - and I have raised it again and again in this Assembly - that there are many uses for cannabis hemp. One of them - and I have mentioned it before - is the medical use. It is not a radical move that plants be used for medical purposes, as Mrs Carnell stated quite rightly; but there should be consultation. Mr Moore said that he can handle the various viewpoints, and that is one that I would ask him to comment upon.
Mr Moore: I would be only too delighted.
MR STEVENSON: He says that he is only too delighted to do so; and Mrs Carnell wants to have a chat about it. Therefore, I will leave my comments at that.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (11.43), by leave: Madam Speaker, I need to clarify a couple of things that Mr Connolly said. He talked about political deals being done. There has been no political deal whatsoever done on this issue. In fact, Mr Connolly would be acutely aware that Mr Moore and I have worked in this area for a very long time. He would be aware also that, surprise, surprise, this is not a huge change of position whatsoever for me on this issue. In fact, the medical use of cannabis and the research in this area have been issues that I have been pushing, and have been very interested in, for a very long time - for a long time before I was elected to this place. It is unfortunate to trivialise an issue that is important, that is about health generally and that is about a substance that, down the track, could help people who, at this stage, are going blind. It should not be trivialised by saying that it is something to do with political deals.
The fact is that what this amendment does - and all this amendment does - is allow medical research; it is not a case of some doctor saying, "You can use it; thank you, very much; end of deal". Medical research needs to be carried out on cannabis in the ACT. The Minister says that that is fine. Then he should support the legislation. It is that simple. Medical research, if it is not done properly, is unprofessional conduct. It is that simple. It is not just one of those flitty things. If medical practitioners go down the track of shonky research, the fact is that they will be deregistered; they will be taken on by the board. That is exactly what happens; the Medical Board will take doctors on. Nobody wants shonky research carried out. We do not want medical research to be ruled out by having in place provisions that are too prohibitive, as they are in this case.
This is not a new drug; it is not something that was just invented. It is a plant that has been around probably forever; for a long time before Jesus Christ; for a very long time. It is not as if we do not know what this drug does. We do know what this drug causes and the side effects that it has; but all of a sudden it appears that, as one of its more positive side effects, it may alleviate some conditions. There have been already some 6,000 trials worldwide in this area. I believe that in the ACT, as part of this medical research bent that Mr Connolly talks about, this is something that we would totally support and that we should not be walking away from this approach. It is not about political deals; it is about making sure that we have in this Territory sensible procedures for medical research of a substance that has existed for 10,000 years.
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