Page 2155 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 August 2014
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Members, today I am tabling an exposure draft of legislation that would allow, for the first time, sick and dying people in the ACT to legally access medicinal cannabis as a treatment for their illness. I am also tabling an accompanying discussion paper which seeks feedback on the draft legislation from the community, from experts and from other stakeholders.
The key motivation for taking up this issue on behalf of the ACT Greens is one of compassion. People who are ill and dying, or enduring chronic pain or debilitating symptoms, should be able to access appropriate treatments to help alleviate their symptoms. Cannabis can be one of those appropriate treatments. Its use as a medical treatment is supported by strong medical evidence. This is backed up, as we have no doubt all seen, by strong anecdotal evidence. Regulation of medicinal cannabis is workable, and we already have numerous other jurisdictions around the world we can look to for guidance. The model I have proposed in this exposure draft is based on a model used in Canada for many years, but it is flexible and open to change, either now or after an initial period of operation.
Since I released this legislation, I have already received many submissions and feedback from members of the public who are urging a change to the law. Some are from out of state, but many are local. Invariably these are everyday people who are suffering from one of the illnesses for which cannabis can help relieve symptoms or who have a loved one who is suffering such an illness. The people suffering from these illnesses cover the age spectrum, from babies and children with illnesses such as rare and severe epilepsy to the elderly with illnesses such as terminal cancer.
Some of the submissions talk about the struggle and stigma they have to suffer in order to obtain cannabis outside the law. Some of the submissions talk about the fact that the person does not use cannabis because it is illegal, but desperately wishes that they could, and they suffer daily because they cannot. These fears of prosecution or persecution help to keep most of these stories hidden, but I am sure we have all seen some of the few stories that have become public in recent months. There is story of Tamworth mother Lucy Haslam and her son Dan, for example. Let me quote some of Lucy’s story in her own words. She says:
I’m watching my brave 24-year-old son Dan die from terminal cancer that’s putting him and his young wife through hell. All I want to do is stop the pain he’s feeling—what any parent would fight to do …
We manage my son’s health with medicinal cannabis, and I’m terrified I’m going to end up in prison.
Like many others with terminal illness, the drug is helping manage my son’s nausea, his vomiting, and the cruel tricks that cancer plays on his appetite.
It’s vastly different to recreational drug use. Dan doesn’t want to do it, he has to; it’s giving him an ability to maintain quality of life with the time that he has left.
It shouldn’t be like this. He’s just celebrated his first wedding anniversary with his darling wife, and he’s desperate to enjoy as many more as he possibly can. I want that for him too.
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