The NSW government is deliberately delaying medicinal cannabis applications from doctors for patients with terminal illnesses and other serious medical conditions, driving many into the black market to source the medicine.
The Berejiklian government’s current approach to the issue, the opposition says, is to give the impression they support access to medicinal cannabis, but then thwart applications.
The claim yesterday, by shadow health minister Walt Secord, is backed up by cannabis campaigners who say the government is sending ‘mixed messages’ over the issue by undertaking controversial cannabis raids on the ‘forefront of medical cannabis activism’, the northern rivers (see our story this week at https://www.echo.net.au/2018/02/annual-police-raids/
Mr Secord said that a $6 million cannabis medicines hotline which the government opened
just over a week ago was useless.
He said the doctors he’d spoken to say the hotline has had no positive impact and ‘not affected their ability to get quicker approvals’.
The doctors had told him they were frustrated by the ‘whole process and ‘believed that the delays come from the senior levels of NSW Health’.
In a press release recently NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the NSW Cannabis Medicines Advisory Service Hotline (02 4923 6200) provided doctors with’ timely, high-quality clinical advice’.
But Mr Secord, the shadow minister for the north coast, has called on the state government to look at the Israeli model of a ‘compassionate access scheme’.
‘The current system is completely against the spirit of the good work of the former Premier Mike Baird,’ he said. (As early as July 2014, the then-Premier Mike Baird indicated that he supported medicinal cannabis for terminally ill patients.)
Mr Secord said in Canada and Israel, there were tens of thousands of patients getting lawful access to medicinal cannabis., while in NSW, there were less than 50 patients receiving medicinal cannabis by prescription from their doctors.
‘Currently there are about 26,000 registered medical cannabis users in Israel,’ he said.
‘In Israel, cannabis is illegal but allowed for some specified medical usages. Citizens caught using cannabis in public cannot be arrested but may face fines, with the money collected from these fines going to education and rehabilitation programs.
‘Medicinal cannabis has been permitted in Israel since the early 1990s for cancer patients and those with pain-related illnesses such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease, other chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. Patients can access cannabis by smoking; ingesting as a liquid or tablet; by patches or by a skin balm.
‘In Israel, the system starts with the patient. That is a logical place to start. It is about the needs of a terminal patient.
‘The Israelis have a clear protocol on how doctors can prescribe to their patients and this slashes any unnecessary delays. It is still regulated by the Israeli government.’
Mr Secord made the comments as the new Medicinal Cannabis Alliance, led by United in Compassion founder Lucy Haslam, met in Sydney yesterday (February 8) about ‘improving access to medicinal cannabis’.
‘Sadly, patients with terminal illnesses in NSW are suffering because NSW Health is making their doctors submit and re-submit applications, resulting in hours and hours of unnecessary and cumbersome paperwork,’ Mr Secord said.
‘Doctors have told me about desperate patients who are dying before they can navigate the cumbersome system in NSW.
‘Unfortunately, this is forcing patients into the black market.
‘Access to a safe and secure medical supply of medicinal cannabis is about sympathy and compassion.’
Mr Secord said he had met and spoken with advocates and doctors concerned about the ‘slow and cumbersome procedures’ in NSW which were meant to allow doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis.
He pledged that as health minister in a future Labor government he wanted to oversee a more compassionate access scheme for terminal patients and others with serious medical conditions to use medicinal cannabis.
In February 2017, NSW Labor leader Luke Foley and Mr Searle drafted and introduced a bill to allow sufferers of terminal and serious medical conditions to access medicinal cannabis.
In 2012, Mr Foley initiated a parliamentary inquiry into medicinal cannabis to revive discussion around the important health matter.
Attempts by Echonetdaily this morning to contact health minister Brad Hazzard were unsuccessful.
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