Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk for the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. I understand that some in our community may find this bill controversial, but this bill is about one thing. It is about giving our doctors and our medical professionals a range of options when prescribing pain relief for their patients who for various reasons cannot take pharmaceutical drugs. It should not matter that cannabis is naturally grown and is not made in a laboratory. This bill is not about legalising recreational drugs, nor is it the thin edge of the wedge on that issue.

Patients can currently access cannabis for medicinal purposes under the supervision of their doctor. However, it is difficult to find suitable products. I have two friends that I personally know have for palliative care reasons tried a number of pain relief methods. Both of them use an oil that they put on their necks. The medicinal cannabis has worked for them like that and has proven to be very valuable for their pain relief. There is growing community expectation that some patients such as those with MS or terminal cancer or children with forms of epilepsy have a ready source of medicinal cannabis products that their doctor can prescribe.

One of these friends has told me that they actually do access this illegally. It is recognised that in certain circumstances access to approved treatments may provide some benefits: pain relief, nausea control and increased appetite. There are many reports that patients and carers of patients are breaking the law by obtaining these products from illegal markets. They are not regulated; therefore, there can be no guarantees for their safety and their quality. When you are growing it or buying it from a source that is not regulated, obviously there can be great variance in the product. This obviously exposes patients, who are challenged with their health and doing this for palliative care, to health risks and, in many cases, their carers or themselves to criminal prosecution.

Because of the criminality associated with this, decisions to use medicinal cannabis are often made without the appropriate medical advice or a suitable medical practitioner. This particular friend of mine was not prescribed this or recommended this by a doctor; it was hearsay and word-of-mouth from someone else who was using it in a palliative care sense. If there is regulation as we are doing, it would always be by a doctor, it will be supervised as such and the product will be regulated.

There is significant support for this in the committee. In a 2013 survey 75 per cent of people supported a clinical trial of cannabis to treat medical conditions and 69 per cent would support a change to the legislation to permit the use of it. The different states and territories are also making different inroads to this. The New South Wales government is investing in clinical trials that will explore this as well. The Victorian government is doing similarly.

Currently in Australia, there are systems in place to license the manufacture and supply of cannabis based products in Australia; however, there is no mechanism to allow the cultivation of a safe, legal and sustainable local supply of the raw material. This has meant that Australian patients, researchers and manufacturers have had to access international suppliers of legal medicinal cannabis crops. Limited supplies and export barriers have also made this expensive and difficult. Permitting this for medicinal purposes will address the sourcing problem where supply has been provided for under the Therapeutic Goods Act.

Australia also has international obligations to carefully control, supervise and report on the various stages of narcotic drug cultivation, production and manufacture under the 1961 single convention. This enabling legislation for these obligations is in the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967, which is currently administered by the Minister for Health and the Attorney-General.

With regard to cannabis, the primary obligation is to prevent cannabis cultivated for medicinal purposes being diverted to illicit users. So this will be tightly administered, because obviously we do not want this product to start to be cultivated and produced in this country legally then diverted to illicit users.

Further, the Commonwealth is obligated under the single convention to take the sole legislative responsibility for licensing and determining where cultivation can take place. The Commonwealth cannot rely on state and territory legislation to fulfil its obligations. Australia is also expected to tightly control the amount produced so it only meets the demand for medicinal purposes. The Department of Health will be required to report regularly to the International Narcotic Control Board at the United Nations.

The circumstances under which medicines and chemicals are accessible to consumers in Australia are determined through a classification process known as scheduling. Scheduling decisions made under the Therapeutic Goods Act are independent of ministerial involvement. By this process, cannabis is included as a prohibited substance under schedule 9. This scheduling means the manufacture, possession sale or use of cannabis is prohibited unless approved by relevant authorities for medical or scientific research. On 21 January 2016 a proposal to reschedule specific forms of cannabis for specific uses was posted for public comment. The proposal will be considered by the advisory committee on medicines scheduling on 16 March following public comment.

A change to the schedule will still require prescribing to have very careful oversight, including by state and territory authorities, but would enable prescribing in many cases. At present, no form of cannabis can be registered for therapeutic use in Australia unless an application is made to the TGA with supporting data to assess its quality, safety and efficacy. Until a sponsor makes an application for registration of medicinal cannabis product, the TGA cannot register the product; however, the legislation recognises that there are some clinical situations where unregistered products should be prescribed after appropriate consideration by a medical practitioner in consultation with the patient.

Although the Commonwealth currently has laws to regulate the import, export and manufacture of some cannabis, existing legislation does not permit the cultivation of cannabis plants other than for industrial or horticultural purposes. In addition, existing manufacturing provisions are inadequate to appropriately manage the risks associated with the potential for diversion of medicinal cannabis products and other narcotic drugs.

This bill will provide a legislative framework that will enable cannabis cultivation in Australia for medicinal and research purposes. These amendments also ensure that, when cultivation, production and manufacture of cannabis for medicinal purpose begin, Australia will remain compliant with its international treaty obligations as defined in the single convention.

The Commonwealth will control all regulatory aspects of the cultivation for medicinal purposes through one national scheme, which is why it needs to be done at the Commonwealth level and not state. Manufacture will be a joint responsibility between the Commonwealth and the states and territories, which is consistent with the single convention obligations. Access to any cannabis products manufactured under the scheme is also a joint responsibility, with supply being controlled by provisions under the Therapeutic Goods Act working in tandem with state and territory drugs and poisons legislation.

The bill, importantly, does not override any state or territory legislation dealing with criminal activities associated with the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis that occurs outside the regulatory scheme it establishes.

The bill provides two types of cultivation licences: one that allows for the cultivation of cannabis plants for the production of cannabis for medicinal purposes; the other to authorise cultivation for research purposes related to medicinal cannabis. For both forms of cultivation, an applicant for a licence to cultivate must be a 'fit and proper person' according to the criteria set out in the bill and must demonstrate that they can adequately manage the physical security of the crop.

Cultivation of cannabis carries a particularly high risk of diversion because the product can be readily used in its raw state and is likely to be attractive to organised crime seeking to hide illegal activities under cover of a Commonwealth licence. The provisions in the bill are designed to manage these risks. They do this by ensuring that the applicant or licence holder does not have ties to criminal activity, has the financial resources to participate in the industry, and can satisfy security and other requirements of the conditions of the licence. The combination of a licence and permit system will control the quantities and strains of cannabis that can be cultivated. Where the cultivation is for production into medicinal cannabis products for supply to patients, these permits will be managed to ensure that the amounts of product manufactured are planned in advance, relative to proposed usage, and do not exceed permitted manufacturing limits. The permit system will also allow the Commonwealth to discharge its estimate and reporting obligations to the International Narcotics Control Board.

Additional amendments are proposed to the existing manufacturing provisions, which have not been substantively updated since they were introduced in 1967. This will deliver consistency in the requirements for a licence for manufacturing for all narcotic drugs, along with ensuring regulatory best practice. In particular, these changes introduce the same requirement for a cultivation licence of an applicant or licence holder and any relevant business associates; they must be 'fit and proper'.

The same high standard must be applied to all parts of the cultivation and production process. To only apply a higher standard to cultivation could focus criminal activity on the other part of the production chain, the manufacture, where entry is legally easier. This would seriously compromise Australia's ability to meet its public health and international obligations. Similarly, it would be inappropriate to limit the fit and proper person test to just the manufacturer of cannabis products. Other narcotic drugs represent significant public health risks, so a similar level of control for all narcotic drugs is necessary to protect public health.

Amendments to penalty units will ensure that the new legislation is consistent with other Commonwealth legislation. As the Narcotics Drugs Act has not been relevantly updated since 1967, this revised approach to penalties will also ensure that the penalties are a sufficient deterrent. The introduction of civil penalties and their enforcement ensures a consistent operation of the scheme.

The decision-making power to grant licences will no longer reside with the Minister for Health but with the secretary of the Department of Health. This will allow an internal review of decisions to be undertaken by the Minister for Health rather than through direct appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. This approach ensures that applicants and licence holders will have more timely recourse in case of a dispute over decisions made by the department. This also ensures that the process is consistent with the new licensing provisions for cultivation inserted into the act.

The bill provides for a secure supply chain, from cultivation to manufacture to product and then to patient, with a medical prescriber involved as appropriate. Product identification will occur in two ways. A product is defined for use in a clinical trial related to a particular condition and supplied to patients who qualify for inclusion in the trial. This product might subsequently be supplied to patients not fitting the clinical trial protocol through a pathway such as the Authorised Prescriber Scheme. A state or territory based access scheme identifies what product or products are to be supplied to a defined patient group. For example, the Victorian government has proposed a medical expert committee to help identify appropriate products.

Manufacturing can begin once a medicinal formulation of cannabis is identified. There are already provisions in the act through which manufacturing of a narcotic drug can be licensed. The bill updates and strengthens these provisions and introduces specific requirements for the supply of manufactured cannabis products for medicinal use in accordance with the act.

States and territories will continue to have a central role in enabling access to the products, particularly with regard to scheduling. Each jurisdiction will be responsible for enacting though the medicinal scheduling legislation. This will establish a robust and secure system. Importantly, it puts the medical professional back into the decision-making process to ensure better outcomes for patients while ensuring that patients have a safe supply of product.

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This will be a day of some considerable celebration by many Australians who are suffering, or whose children are suffering, a variety of medical conditions and who find very real relief in the use of cannabis. We are talking about conditions such as epilepsy, glaucoma, migraine, pain associated with degenerative diseases and spinal injuries. We also know that this is a product that can assist those many tens of thousands of Australians who are going through chemotherapy at any one time as they seek to struggle with the nausea that often is generated by the chemotherapy. So it is important that here we are, beginning to understand that we need to act on this, that we need to put aside some of the past irrationalities that have surrounded the use of cannabis and many other drugs in this community and start coming up with a series of very well thought through, rational policies to allow us to get this mix right—to get our legislative regime on a proper, rational path.

I do note with some interest that it was 90 years ago that the Commonwealth first legislated to ban cannabis in Australia. Subsequently a series of complementary state legislation was introduced, but it was 1926 when the Commonwealth first legislated in this area. Certainly in the 19th century cannabis had been a very commonly used pharmaceutical or medical therapy. It was recognised that it had very positive qualities. At the turn of the 20th century cannabis became very much tied up with big debates about migration, both in America and, to a lesser extent, in Australia. But certainly we had our own version of that and concern over opium, and our attitudes towards opium became very much intermingled with issues associated with migration from Asia. In the United States, which led the charge in the banning of cannabis, it was very much associated with Mexican migration.

So we have finally come back to a point, and it is part of the cycle, where we are beginning to understand that many naturally occurring products are very beneficial and have real medicinal qualities and we are prepared to move beyond some of the almost hysterical reactions to these products and put in place an access regime that will allow people who really can benefit from the use of those drugs to do so.

This is a very cautious piece of legislation, I think. It has been embraced, because the state governments of New South Wales and Victoria have indicated that they want to commence a process of clinical trials for cannabis derived products. Both New South Wales and Victoria will be doing trials into the treatment of children with severe drug-resistant epilepsy. This is a very real issue. In my home state of Western Australia, Suresh Rajan, the chief executive of the epilepsy association, said that he would have up to 100 mothers who use it on their children illegally. He was part of the advocacy group that got us to this position today, where we are going to see a series of trials.

I am very pleased that New South Wales have also indicated that they will not be confining their trials simply to children with drug resistant epilepsy but they will also be doing separate trials, hopefully, on adults with terminal illnesses, focusing on improving quality of life and the symptoms of pain, nausea and vomiting. They will also be looking at a trial for adults with chemotherapy-induced nausea, where standard treatments are ineffective. So there will be considerable movement with these trials that are going to take place in those two states.

In order to allow this to happen, to give the states the capacity to do this, we must amend our national regulatory regime. I am very pleased to say that we have had bipartisan support on this. I acknowledge the parliamentary friends group that has been pushing for this for some years. I also acknowledge all those people with medical conditions and their families who have, with so much vigour and integrity, pursued this issue. I very much look forward to these trials being concluded and us then allowing any of the persons within those classifications to have access to the very therapeutic benefits that I am sure will be upheld as a result of these trials. The anecdotal evidence, the historic evidence, is so strong that I think we can be fairly confident that there will be positive outcomes from these trials.

It is interesting reflecting on some of the history. Some of the historical opposition to the use of cannabis has come from pharmaceutical companies who prefer to ensure that their own manufactured products have exclusivity in the marketplace. I just hope that we are now at a place of sufficient rationality where we can let the science, and not the benefit of these pharmaceutical companies, be the force that drives the policy settings that we have. There is some disappointment amongst some of the activists in this area that the bodies that are going to be able to grow and supply will tend to be commercial entities, but, in order to get this underway, this is perhaps not an unreasonable first step. But, into the future, once we have gone through this trial process, I think we should be very open to ensuring that we review who we are going to be prepared to licence.

The previous speaker, the member for Page, expressed concern that cannabis may get into the hands of organised crime. One of the ironies is that it is our legislative regime that has, to a very large extent, driven the organised crime. If you look at the history of the introduction of prohibition of alcohol in the United States, it led to the wholesale establishment of Mafia and, no doubt, 'Ndrangheta and other organised crime syndicates in the United States. We see much the same thing with the drug trade. It is the very illegality—the insistence that we focus so much on the supply side and not the demand side—that has led to the generation of organised crime.

It is important that, as well as dealing with this issue of the medicinal use of cannabis, in the longer run we be prepared to look at a more rational regime around the more general recreational use of cannabis. At this point, I note that I am veering into my own space and not necessarily determined Labor Party policy. But I was pleased to be part of a Labor government in Western Australia that introduced a measure of decriminalisation of cannabis, because we understood that, the more that you can take this out of the hands of organised crime, the better it is for society. It is a pretty widely used drug within the community. There is an argument that this has become a 'gateway drug'. If there is any truth in it, it is true because we are connecting people to organised crime and to other drugs by requiring this to be a drug that is in fact only marketed through organised crime.

It is interesting that not only are there more than 20 states in the United States that have permitted medical cannabis to be prescribed but there are a number of states now that are moving towards a more general decriminalisation of cannabis, in recognition that we really need to deal with the demand side and that all we have really been doing, to a very considerable extent, is providing a business model for organised crime. I would hope that this is a debate about which we can be a little more rational into the future, and that this small and modest step towards trials of medicinal cannabis will start opening our minds to a more objective assessment of how best we deal with the problem of drug use.

I do not think it is possible to exaggerate the destructiveness of ice, for example, on individual users and the degree to which people from all socioeconomic groups in society—not just people that have family problems, or personal problems, but indeed anyone—can very, very easily find themselves in the grip of ice. I wonder whether or not part of our difficulty in controlling this is because we tend to take the same attitude towards all drugs, all psychotropic substances. This perhaps undermines our credibility with those people who we would seek to educate about those drugs that have very, very significant risks. We often do not send out a nuanced and, dare I say, believable message to many of our young people because we lump all of these substances in together with the label 'bad'.

I certainly have long been part of a drug law reform movement that believes that the focus on harm minimisation must be the way to go and we must be looking as much at the demand side as the supply side and that is deeply concerned about the power of organised crime about the business model that we are making available to organised crime with our current regime of drug laws. Again, I compliment all the people who have been involved in lobbying for this legislation over the years. I really hope many people will find a great deal of relief.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The term 'cannabis' is a word that has been demonised in a modern, wealthier society because it conjures up images of druggies, deros, young people off their face on pot, bongs, unlawful pipes, the illicit drug trade, crime gangs in the Mafia, illicit marijuana crops hidden in the bush, people murdering and shooting at each other to protect their illegal crops, and a range of undesirable behaviours from the people who use it. I must confess that until recently I too never really saw much good in the term cannabis. That is until many people in my electorate of Capricornia began talking to me about the medicinal use of cannabis for serious health reasons.

I must state that cannabis used for medical reasons is, of course, a different strain to that peddled by Mafia drug gangs. Since I have learnt more about the medicinal value of cannabis and the role it can play in pain relief for chronic or terminally ill patients, I have thoroughly changed both my mind and attitude towards the term cannabis.

Let me give you an example. Recently I met Greg from the northern part of my electorate. Greg suffers from Guillain-Barre syndrome, or GBS, and has used cannabis to assist with pain and respiratory symptoms. GBS is an autoimmune disease that attacks a person's nerve system, weakening the body's immune defence system. As a result, parts of the nerves are damaged, delaying signals to the brain and body. It can cause paralysis, muscle weakness and other painful conditions. It can also lead to life-threatening complications to a patient's respiratory muscles, making it painful and hard to breathe. Greg described bouts of severe and chronic pain and said he uses cannabis to help alleviate the harsh symptoms and pain.

Another person I met was Lucy. Her son Daniel suffered terminal bowel cancer. It was extremely painful. Cannabis relieved the dreadful pain and the symptoms he was suffering. Sadly, Daniel passed away last year. Lucy has been a tireless advocate for cannabis law reforms.

Today's bill is about making change to ultimately help people like Greg and Daniel to find a solution to overcome such medical related pain. Today, I put my full support behind changing the law to pave the way for the legal cultivation of cannabis for medical products.

This coalition Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill aims to amend the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967 to enable the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use. This will eventually allow patients access to legally manufactured cannabis therapeutic products. This bill will be a big step forward for people suffering serious illness, as it will allow professional farmers to cultivate cannabis that will be used to make products for medicinal use in Australia. Children with epilepsy, people with cancer and other major painful conditions would be able to access such products—most likely by prescription.

Importantly, the appropriate strain of cannabis would be farmed by responsible growers licensed to cultivate the crops under strict conditions. People should not think this is an open door for them to grow pot in the backyard claiming it to be for medicinal use. The quantity and strains of medicinal cannabis that could be cultivated would be strictly controlled and regulated under a permit and licensing system with professional farmers. Growers would have to be deemed responsible people and fit for acquiring such a permit.

The amendment would create a national law for the entire country, taking away confusion among various state jurisdictions. It is not our intention for patients to smoke cannabis but instead to use cannabis based products such as sprays, skin applications and oils. This is exciting for both patients, who can benefit from legal cannabis medicines, and for our agriculture industry—particularly in Capricornia which has a unique opportunity to tap into a new crop and a potentially lucrative market. The federal government intends that in the future Australia may be able to export such cannabis products overseas, adding value to a fledgling industry.

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As co-convenor of the Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy and Law Reform, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016, which will allow for the growing of cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes. This bill is the first step of many along the path to sensible and significant reform in this area, and it is due in no small part to the tireless advocacy and work of a number of people. I particularly want to pay tribute to Lucy Haslam and her son Daniel, who did so much to raise political consciousness at state and federal levels about this issue that affects so many people in the Australian community. For many Australians suffering chronic pain, seizures or nausea, cannabis is the only substance that can provide them with any relief, and yet currently these Australians and their loved ones must act illegally to obtain that relief. That is an absurd state of affairs, as reflected in the extremely high level of public support for Australian governments to take action to make medicinal cannabis legally available. This bill begins that process.

The bill will allow for the cultivation and manufacture of cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes, and there will be countless patients, carers, medical practitioners and industry stakeholders, along with many in the wider community, who will be elated by this bill—a law that shows the government has finally caught up with both the public health science and the legitimate needs of the wider community. But the bill does not legalise the sale, possession or use of cannabis without an application for special access from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the authorised prescriber scheme, or as a part of an approved clinical trial.

Applications to the TGA for special access by individuals have in the past been difficult as the growing, processing and distribution of the drug has not been permitted through an appropriately regulated framework. This has meant that the pharmaceutical standard and quality is uncertain, and of course it has often necessitated the acquisition of cannabis in a way that makes life more difficult for people already facing grave health issues.

The development of a single national system for the growth and distribution of cannabis is a significant reform, but it is essential for the national government to work cooperatively and quickly with states and territories to amend local laws to reintroduce the lawful use of medicinal cannabis to ensure there are no barriers to access. After 50 years of prohibition, such a move will unquestionably improve the lives of thousands of people who suffer from painful and chronic conditions and, in so doing, will make life easier for their families and carers by allowing them to access safe, reliable and legal medicinal cannabis.

The legalisation of medicinal cannabis will also require the TGA to reschedule cannabis from a schedule 9, prohibited substance, to schedule 8, controlled drugs, which will enable doctors to prescribe the drug to patients. It would also require Australia to ensure that the provision of cannabis does not breach Australia's international drug treaty obligations. It is clear that there needs to be a nationwide approach, with an independent regulator to ensure that patients who are suffering have timely access to this lifesaving drug, regardless of where they live.

Of course, the finer details will need to be negotiated. This includes identifying and resolving issues with the supply chain. Pharmacies should have the ability to store and distribute the drug to patients with prescriptions. The idea that hospitals themselves should store and dispense cannabis is not a practical option and could see patients turning to an unregulated source for the drug. As the legislation will ensure that there is an appropriate supply chain from which there is little risk of diversion, it seems an unnecessary step. I also have some concerns over the assessment for applications for licences. It is essential that in its endeavour to find 'fit and proper persons' it does not discriminate unnecessarily, particularly in relation those who may have committed a minor crime or who may not have any previous business experience but would be suitable to produce this medicinal plant.

An agreement regarding the movement of the drug by a person between states and territories needs to be negotiated to ensure that a person who has been prescribed in a participating state or territory can continue to use the medication while in another part of the country. In addition, the drug driving laws remain of concern, as I understand there are no current plans to consider amending laws to ensure that those taking medicinal cannabis lawfully are not impacted. I am in no way condoning driving under the influence of drugs, and those taking the drug would need to ensure that they adhere to medical advice regarding operating heavy machinery, as per any other drug; however, those who are using the drug safely and who may still have the drug in their blood system after a safe amount of time should not be penalised.

Further clinical trials are needed to attain a clear understanding about which health ailments will benefit from medicinal cannabis; however, we have already gained a wealth of data that confirms the therapeutic potential of the drug for a number of health issues. Cannabis has been shown to work as an analgesic for chronic neuropathic pain, as an appetite stimulant and antiemetic—to prevent nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy—and for debilitating diseases such as cancer and AIDS. Cannabis also assists in providing relief from the debilitating symptoms that are derived from physical ailments such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, chronic pain, intestinal dysfunction, and Tourette syndrome. Co-medication has shown that in some cases medicinal cannabis works to enhance the effect of the other drug and/or to reduce the side effects.

Studies have also suggested that the use of medicinal cannabis has reduced the deaths from other drugs, specifically opiates. A study that was published in the peer-reviewed American Medical Association's journal of internal medicine, JAMA, suggests that cannabis use may reduce deaths from opiates by up to 25 per cent.

The common claim that it is a 'gateway drug' is incorrect and has been disproved by reputable analysis, including by the National Academy of Sciences, which stated in 1999 that 'there is no evidence that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular drug effect'. More recently, in 2013, the Canadian Senate's Special Committee on Illegal Drugs argued that, 'Cannabis itself is not a cause of other drug use. In this sense, we reject the gateway theory.'

The community-wide effort to see a positive change and progress in this area has been significant. The reform we debate here has been hard won in the long-running, harmful, and misconceived war on drugs. This war began in the early 20th century in the US under the influence of the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger, who institutionalised his own fears. While the majority of countries continue to take an approach of punishment based on prohibition, a number of countries have now focused on harm reduction. Liberalising measures have been successfully implemented in Switzerland, Uruguay, Portugal, Israel and the Netherlands and in the US states of Colorado and Washington. As Johann Hari argues in his book Chasing the Scream:

The drug war is not what our politicians have sold it as for one hundred years and counting. And there is a very different story out there waiting for us when we are ready to hear it—one that should leave us thrumming with hope.

I would like to take this opportunity to further acknowledge Lucy Haslam, a former nurse, and her husband, Lou, a former drug squad officer, who were forced to source cannabis illegally to relieve their son Daniel's pain. Dan unfortunately passed away from cancer a year ago tomorrow. Impatient with the lack of reform in this area, right up until his death Daniel and his mother and father campaigned tirelessly for medicinal cannabis reform, lobbying at all levels of government, and even applying for a New South Wales government exemption to cultivate the drug so that Lucy and a team in Tamworth could grow and supply cannabis to those who need it.

I recently had the honour of meeting Ben Oakley, along with his father, Michael, and mother, Caroline. This courageous and driven 20-year-old has the one-in-a-million condition Stiff Person Syndrome. After consuming cannabis oil, the quality of life that Ben experiences has improved significantly. On 10 February when he visited parliament, he said to the media:

... we need to get this legalised, help people out there who need it so badly. Unfortunately, we've lost so many already because cannabis oil hasn't been legalised … We have to do this; I don't know what I would be like without being on the oil. It has changed my life. So it has to change and we aren't going to stop until it's done.

Progress in this space by all levels of government is essential so that the likes of the Haslams and the Oakleys will no longer need be considered criminals for trying to help loved ones who are suffering.

I want to acknowledge Professor David Penington AC, one of Australia's leading public intellectuals and health experts, and Dr David Caldicott, toxicologist, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment who have been strong advocates for promoting the benefits of medicinal cannabis and dispelling any myths or concerns.

I want to acknowledge the Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy and Law Reform co-conveners Dr Richard Di Natale and Dr Sharman Stone. The work that Richard and his office have done in particular has led the way to reform. I would also like to acknowledge Dr Alex Wodak for his constant efforts in relation to the misconceptions about drugs and in particular the disadvantages and dangers of the war on drugs versus taking a health treatment approach.

I welcome and recognise the efforts of the shadow minister for health, the Hon. Catherine King, and the shadow assistant minister for health, Stephen Jones, as well as the efforts of the Minister for Health, Sussan Ley, in committing to swift reform. Lastly and most importantly, I want acknowledge all the advocates who have seen their community-wide effort influence policymakers.

This bill is an important and significant public health policy outcome, yet there is still a way to go before we see medicinal cannabis being legally used throughout Australia by those who need it. I urge the federal government to continue to work with states and territories to decriminalise the possession of medicinal cannabis products and to develop a strong and effective national scheme. I also encourage the government to create an independent advisory panel to oversee the implementation of the legislation, with members having experience in the fields of medicine, pharmacology, palliative care, botany, horticulture, law and enforcement and advocacy for patients and other users of medical cannabis.

A serious conversation around broader drug reform to focus on drug use as a health issue and not the criminal aspect is long overdue. I encourage colleagues to attend the parliamentary drug summit on 2 March in 2S3 from 10 am to 1.45pm which is being hosted by the Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy and Law Reform. The summit will hear from special guests, New Zealand Associate Minister of Health, the Hon. Peter Dunne, and Co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center in the US, Mr Beau Kilmer.

To conclude, I urge the fast passage of this bill through both Houses to begin the process of ensuring that people can get the relief they have been desperately asking for. We can no longer deny them this right, particularly when the science is on their side.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I rise to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. Marijuana is typically associated with the idea of illegality and disastrous side effects from its misuse. Misuse of this drug can result in severe damage, poor coordination and a slower reaction time, mood changes and paranoia.

A friend who lived in Brighton misused this drug on a regular basis some 10 or so years ago, and I saw how it affected him in a big way. He was unable to find work or hold down a job in any meaningful way. I believe that people who deal illegally in this drug should be punished. However, for many people marijuana can be a lifesaver to help them with their medical issues. It helps ease severe epilepsy, the pain of multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms and arthritis.

This bill is the missing piece for many families not just in my electorate but right around Australia because it will give Australian patients and doctors access to the medicinal cannabis products they need to manage painful and chronic conditions. The bill is a massive win for the people in my electorate who have fought long and hard to challenge the stigma around medicinal cannabis products. The bill will ensure that the supply of medicinal cannabis products is reliable, safe and legal. It will mean patients will not have to turn to the black market for cannabis and will ensure there is appropriate medical supervision.

Locally, I have had people see me in my electorate office and when I have been out and about in the community who support the changes we are talking about with this bill. I spoke with Noel Neville at Griffin recently while I was out doorknocking. His daughter has cancer and he believes medicinal cannabis would help relieve her pain. He said, 'So many lives would be saved.' He believes it would help treat some of the illnesses people have. Mr Squire from Kippa-Ring has a severe condition that can be relieved through the use of medicinal cannabis. I wrote to the Minister for Health, the Hon. Sussan Ley, on his behalf some time ago. Mr Austin from Fitzgibbon is also battling severe pain and has been very supportive of legalising medicinal cannabis.

I think that most people in the House of Reps and the Senate will support this bill 100 per cent because we know, as previous speakers have said, people who are undergoing chemotherapy or who have Tourette syndrome, AIDS or multiple sclerosis can be helped through the use of medicinal cannabis.

So how will it work? It is important to note that this bill does not legalise the cultivation of cannabis or use of cannabis outside of regulated medical purposes. I am not advocating for that. I do not agree with the Greens when they say that illegal drugs should be legal. They were talking that way about crack the other week as well. I believe that is crazy stuff. But, in relation to this bill, I do support it. Also, the bill will not make cannabis products available over the counter. What we are doing here is making sure that there is a secure supply chain of medicinal cannabis products from farm to the patient.

The fact is that patients can currently access cannabis for medicinal purposes under the supervision of their doctor. However, it is difficult to find suitable products. Australian patients, researchers and manufacturers have had to try to access international supplies of legal medicinal cannabis, and the supply has not always been there. Limited supplies and export barriers in other countries have made this expensive and difficult. Permitting the cultivation of cannabis in Australia for medicinal purposes will help address this sourcing and supply problem.

The Narcotic Drug Amendment Bill 2016 provides a legislative framework that will enable cannabis cultivation in Australia for medicinal and related research purposes. The Commonwealth will control all regulatory aspects of the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes through one national scheme. Manufacturing will be a joint responsibility between the Commonwealth and the states and territories, which is consistent with the single convention obligations. This means perhaps a potential income source for the Commonwealth, which we would be able to use in other areas of Commonwealth spending, but most importantly in health.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank the Commonwealth Minister for Health, the Hon. Sussan Ley, for her advocacy of this legislation. She has been working with the Prime Minister and the department for months to draft and finalise this amendment bill. And I thank her for her time in taking my questions throughout this process.

The Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016 is about making sure Australians do not have to choose between breaking the law and providing relief for their chronically ill children or relatives. We do not currently have a safe, legal or reliable supply of locally-grown cannabis to allow the manufacture of therapeutic products or to satisfy demand. Today, I speak in support of this bill. To the many people who have come to see in my office in the Petrie electorate and when I have been out and about in the community: this is a win for you and I congratulate you on coming to see me and advocating for this over many, many years. I am sure that this bill will help Australians who are suffering not only in the Petrie electorate but right around Australia. It will add to their lives and it will give doctors another string in their bow that they prescribe to people who are in need. I fully support this bill and commend it to the House.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to join colleagues from both sides of the House today to support the bill before us, the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. Firstly, I want to outline what makes me such a passionate follower of this issue of the development of medicinal cannabis and availability to Australians. Like the member for Petrie, it is direct personal experience with a local constituent. I think that is a common experience many of us have had over recent times. Then, for the interest of those who might look at this speech afterwards, I will go through some of the details of the bill so that people are conscious of what it does.

On 18 May last year I had a young man and his dad come to visit me. The young man's name is Ben Oakley and his dad is Michael. They came to talk to me at that point in time because Ben suffers a very rare condition. Some other speakers here have mentioned him as well, because he was in parliament with his mum and dad on the day that this bill was introduced, because they have been following the issue so closely, and he did some media. So some other parliamentarians had the opportunity to meet him. I had a short opportunity in the Federation Chamber to put on record my great admiration for his bravery and also the great clarity with which he explains his experiences and why he is campaigning on the medicinal cannabis issue.

In May last year Ben and his dad came to see me because they were organising a fundraising walk to help with some of his costs. At the time, he was not using medicinal cannabis. So that was not an issue that was on the radar. It was really just to make me aware of his condition and what he was living with and to see if I could assist with their fundraising efforts, which I was pleased to do. I want to use Ben and his dad's own words in describing their experience, because I think they speak more powerfully than anything I could say. If people want to follow Ben's story, he has a Facebook site called Roll On Ben Oakley. It is a very powerful way to get his story out there. I think it is very encouraging how positive he and his family have remained.

Ben's dad, on the Roll On Ben Oakey Facebook site, describes what actually happened to Ben, and these are his words:

On the 21st November 2012 my son, Benjamin Oakley collapsed after a cycling training ride, at the time we all thought that he had pulled a muscle but this was not to be the case. Many months of pain and discomfort were to follow without explanation as to what had happened to my fit and active boy. Ben has Stiff Person Syndrome, a 1 in a Million Neurological Disorder, in Ben's case it effects his mid spine and has left him in constant pain, it appears that Ben is the youngest person in Australia at this time with this horrible process. Ben has gone from a Cyclist and Triathlete to a wheelchair for anything more than a very short distance. Please watch the video attached to this post, it is Ben's story, in his words, it is very hard to watch, it's harder to live with! Ben has acute, full Body Muscle Spasm, even amongst SPS Sufferers this is rare, the Spasm appears similar to an Epileptic Seizure but Ben remains fully alert, aware and in the most intense pain!

Ben has described what happens as imagine taking a Tazer and holding it against your spine! A few weeks back Ben had the worst day anyone could possibly imagine, over the space of 9 hours Ben had 61 of these spasms, the longest continuous spasm lasted for 2 hours. Each Spasm is accompanied by not only intense pain but also huge increases in Ben's Blood Pressure (recorded at 208/190, more than enough to cause a Stroke or Heart Attack!) and his Body temperature goes very high (recorded at 41.5). A spasm can be caused by a sudden scare, a cough, a sneeze, being upset or emotional or sudden intense pain. Any movement can and does cause Ben pain and this obviously could cause him tom have more spasm, Ben has gone from an active person who would rarely sit to not able to move without risking a life threatening Spasm. The only positive thing I can say that has come from this is the fact that Ben is who he is! He always has a smile on his face, he is always up for a challenge and he will always go that extra mile for anyone!

He goes on to explain that they were holding a fundraiser to raise charity money. Further on in the report, he made the point:

Treatments that exist are very expensive and not always effective. We are trying to make not only Ben's life easier but also others with this Rare Disease.

Their charity is called Drop a Dollar for Rare Diseases. At that point, as I said, they were working to raise funds.

I have to say, it was a very moving experience to meet a young man who, in his late teens, had been struck down in the way Ben was and yet who had so profoundly determined to wring the most out of every day that was before him to try to get back to some sort of normal life.

Later last year, Ben and his dad came to see me again. I invited my colleague and neighbour the member for Throsby to come along because I knew that, in his shadow portfolio, he had been doing a lot of work on the area of medicinal cannabis. Ben and his dad came along to report to us that Ben had commenced using medicinal cannabis—and what a profound difference it had made in his life. On 16 December, they updated their Facebook post. This is what Ben's dad said at this point in time:

Still don't know how he does it!

Pushing more and more, a little more each time (something we can all learn from!) Ben has attended his usual physical therapy yesterday and broken his own record, by a HUGE 11 Seconds!

rolling around on the running track at Beaton Park in his wheelchair. If that was not enough, for the first time in over 3 years Ben went out without his Wheelchair, attending his Osteopath in Corrimal, Ben walked in, got on the table, attended his usual treatment then walked back to the car.

This might not sound like much to most people, it is a small victory, but remember that Ben has Stiff Person Syndrome and been using a wheelchair for 3 years now for anything more than a short distance, even when he does go out for a walk he has the chair close by when the pain get too uncomfortable and he has to sit down.

Yes, it remains a painful activity. As most people who live with long term pain will understand, you have to push yourself to get things done, to live as best you can. The hardest part for Ben is if he ends up in too much pain he can spasm and as those who have seen both on this page and personally it is a horrible process. Ben literally takes his life in his hands by pushing the limits.

He goes on:

Some might ask 'How? How do you do it?' Medicinal Cannabis Oil! The change over the last few months has been nothing short of a remarkable. Less pain, fewer days of intense pain, more movement, better ability to exercise, fewer prescription medications (most of which have significant side-effects) and best of all a better quality of Life!

But.... the treatment which has been Ben's Lifesaver remains illegal. This mystifies me! How can something that can be so beneficial not be a treatment that can be accessed by those who need it?

Can YOU do anything to change that? Yes you can …

Michael, Ben's dad, is running a petition to the New South Wales parliament on his website.

This is the reason, I am sure, many of my colleagues in this place can see why Ben's mum and dad, and Ben himself, have become such advocates for the importance of legislation such as that before us today. It is an astonishing thing to see the difference between the young man who came to see me in May last year and the young man who did a press conference on the lawns just outside this chamber and who was able to leave that press conference on his own two feet with myself and the member for Throsby. So the legislation before us is something that I am very pleased to support.

In the few minutes left to me, I want to put on the record the nature of the legislation before us. It is, of course, legislation intended to regulate the cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis. This particular bill will amend the Narcotic Drugs Act to permit the licensing of growers of medicinal cannabis in Australia. It will provide new definitions for the issuing of licences for cannabis cultivation and production. It will provide a fit-and-proper person test to be applied to licensees by the Department of Health, and it will override states and territories where there are direct inconsistencies with the licensing provisions in the bill.

There is certainly bipartisan support between the major parties and, I think, unanimous support across all parties for the successful passage of this bill to achieve those purposes. It is true that some may find it a bit confronting and controversial. Indeed, even on Facebook and the Illawarra Mercury website, where they covered Ben's story, some people—understandably—still express some confusion, concern and reservation. It is well and truly time that we took steps towards making medicinal cannabis a reality. It does need to be appropriately regulated to ensure consistency of quality, dosage and so forth for people using it.

The Australian Labor Party is very pleased to support progress on that matter. We know there is quite a lot of evidence—not only the anecdotal, direct personal experiences, such as I have shared with the House today, but also research available on the benefits and potential benefits of medicinal cannabis. It is true that more work needs to be done in that space. We are concerned—all of us—for families accessing medical cannabis products via what is, in effect, a black market. There are direct legal problems for them—the risk of arrest and conviction—the quality and reliability issues that I have just mentioned and the need to have an independent authority that provides some assurances to them about what they are using.

The bill before us is absolutely a step in the right direction. It is also worth acknowledging that the governments of both New South Wales and Victoria are pushing ahead with state based schemes, so the Commonwealth actions will complement that. The Victorian government has committed to legalising access to locally manufactured medicinal cannabis products, for use in exceptional circumstances, from 2017. Michael Oakley is petitioning the New South Wales government. I know he has met with my state Labor colleague Ryan Parke, the member for Keira, who is also fully behind their campaign. The New South Wales government is vigorously pursuing medical trials of cannabis, and they have provided law enforcement by de-penalising offences related to possession and use for particular classes of people. This is an important addition to that work being done by state governments and families, like the Oakleys. It is important that the Commonwealth does its part in delivering these outcomes. I am very pleased to support the bill before us.

I will finish up by acknowledging the great bravery it has taken for the Oakleys to speak out. When we met with them, at the end of last year, they were not certain whether they were going to do this. It is a risky thing, in some ways, for people to speak out and talk about their own experiences. I really admire them for what they have done. I want to thank members of this chamber, on both sides, who have reported to us the experiences of constituents with diseases, such as cancer, who use medicinal cannabis. I pay respect to those constituents' bravery in outlining their stories for us as policymakers to make good decisions. I cannot think of anything more profoundly important to us than the welfare of young people, like Ben Oakley and the many others who are seeking to assist with this bill. I certainly commend the bill to the House.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to speak to this historic Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016 that will impact many Australian lives for the better and in a safe and sustainable manner. The effect a severe medical condition can have on a patient and their loved ones is significant and lasting, and it is truly a responsible government that recognises that where it is possible to provide avenues to alleviate that suffering something must be done.

Internationally, there has been a great deal of attention on cannabis as a treatment for chronic, debilitating and terminal medical conditions as well as a number of other illnesses and disorders. Advocacy has been strong for some medical conditions, such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain sufferers and cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Indeed, there is some evidence to suggest it could be effective; however, evidence is limited. For a number of years there has been a growing groundswell of support within the Australian community for further investigation, trial and access to medicinal cannabis.

Back in the early nineties the medical potential of the use of cannabis was investigated and acknowledged in various government reports and publications, including of the National Drug Strategy committee and the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. This is why we as a government recognise that there has been enough talk about making medicinal cannabis treatment a possibility, and we are committed to taking action. It is reassuring to note that in conjunction with the Commonwealth stepping up to make it possible other jurisdictions, likewise, are doing their part. Significantly, the New South Wales government has already begun investing in ground-breaking clinical trials that are the first of their kind in the world. Late last year, the NSW government committed $3.5 million to trial cannabis based treatments, for children who suffer from severe epilepsy, in partnership with the Sydney Children's Hospital Network. The medications presently prescribed to these children often have substantial side effects, which affect their quality of life, and it is quality of life that many families of those with severe medical conditions are advocating for when they seek the legal use of medicinal cannabis.

The introduction of this landmark legislation provides the missing link for Australians with severe medical conditions and their treating doctors by providing a means to access a safe, legal and reliable supply of medicinal cannabis products. The Narcotic Drug Amendment Bill 2016 will allow the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and/or scientific purposes through a singular national licensing scheme, which is a national first. Patients with painful, chronic and/or terminal conditions will be able to work with their treating doctors to determine if treatment with medicinal cannabis will be beneficial to their health, control of symptoms and, importantly, quality of life. It empowers doctors and those engaged in the medical treatment of chronically ill Australians to be at the centre of decision making for their patients, with a full scope of possible treatments in mind.

While state governments, such as New South Wales and, more recently, the Victorian government, are investing funds and undertaking clinical trials of medicinal cannabis treatments, the products themselves cannot be sourced within Australia, due to the illegal nature of cultivating cannabis. This is why the government is referring to this bill as providing the missing pieces. Australian patients, researchers and manufacturers have attempted to source international supplies of medicinal cannabis but are restricted due to limited supplies and export barriers. This bill will provide local opportunities to research, develop, manufacture and supply medicinal cannabis for suitable products. It opens up an entirely new opportunity for agriculture in Australia, not unlike the Australian poppy industry, which is also used for medicinal and scientific purposes.

Rather than have the cultivation legislation dotted across the jurisdictions with variation, the national approach to legislative and regulatory processes will allow the Commonwealth to closely track the development of cannabis products and curtail any potential criminal involvement. During the drafting process of this legislation the Commonwealth has worked closely with the states and territories, as well as with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, to ensure that a holistic approach is taken and all issues and implications are considered.

It is important to remember that the passing of this legislation does not legalise the recreational use of the drug. The illegal cultivation, use, possession or trafficking of cannabis remains a criminal offence. This is a necessary distinction to make, as the government is certainly not endorsing the cultivation of cannabis outside of medicinal and/or scientific use. However, this bill extends existing laws to enable the lawful cultivation of medicinal and/or scientific cannabis.

The Commonwealth will establish an authority within the Department of Health to regulate the cultivation of cannabis and will ensure safe, legal and sustainable access to the drug. Australian manufacture of cannabis products is currently regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and this will remain unchanged. The amendments contained within this bill provide that Australia continues to be compliant with the international treaty obligations under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961.

This bill amends the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967, which also regulates the manufacture of legally used narcotics such as morphine. We are proud of our longstanding history of operating a strong and secure regulatory system in this space, with Australia as the leading supplier of morphine. We have the confidence of the international community. Australia will no doubt be a trustworthy international leader in the cultivation of medicinal cannabis, with a clear national licensing system to maintain integrity.

This bill also provides for two distinct types of licensing for the cultivation of medicinal cannabis. One provides for the cultivation of cannabis plants for the production of cannabis for medicinal purposes; the other authorises the cultivation of cannabis plants for the purposes of research related to medicinal use of cannabis. Both licences require an applicant to prove that they are a fit and proper person according to specific criteria as set out in the bill and to reliably demonstrate that they are capable of adequately managing the physical security of the crop itself.

The reality is that cultivation of cannabis carries a particularly high risk of diversion, simply because it can be used in its raw state and requires no further adaptation or improvement. So rigorous constraints are contained within this bill to ensure that the applicant or subsequent licence holder and any relevant business associates are considered across a range of matters, including criminal history, connections, associates and family, financial status, business history and a capacity to comply with licensing requirements. It is specifically designed and worded to ensure the full exclusion of criminal elements, including organised crime.

Potential licence holders also need to demonstrate that a supply arrangement exists with a licensed manufacturer. They will also be restricted in the amount of cannabis they are permitted to produce. There are substantial penalties for offences relating to breaches of licensing conditions and for undertaking unauthorised activities. The regulation of supply and demand between a cannabis licence holder and the licensed manufacturer with whom they have an arrangement is not only the only regulation of its kind; it is also mirrored in the supply chain between the manufacturer and the patient. It limits the entire process, from cultivation through to supply to patients, to production that meets legitimate demand only. Demand will be determined by medical practitioners who are deemed suitable in accordance with the Therapeutic Goods Act. A key element contained in the bill is the granting of powers to the Secretary of the Department of Health, rather than the Minister for Health, in relation to the granting of licences to either cultivate cannabis or manufacture cannabis-based products.

This government is highly sympathetic to those with or those whose loved ones have medical conditions such as illnesses and diseases that cause chronic pain, nausea and other debilitating health issues. We have heard the growing support from our communities for ready access to cannabis-based medical treatments to alleviate pain and suffering. We also understand the difficulties currently faced in continuing clinical trials due to the difficulty of accessing cannabis. This is why we are bridging the gap in supply. Likewise, however, it cannot be ignored that currently Australia has one of the highest per capita rates of illegal cannabis use in the world. Unfortunately, chronic cannabis use has been associated with a number of negative health and social effects. What we are seeing here is a government that is committed to working collaboratively across jurisdictions and with stakeholders to facilitate greater trials and investigations into the health benefits of cannabis-based products, while responsibly controlling the negative aspects already identified. The bill represents a special framework that will open up a whole world of possibilities in the realm of medical treatments using cannabis.

I commend the Minister for Health for her monumental work in bringing this bill to the House, and I applaud her commitment to furthering medical treatments for the benefit of Australians. I also thank the many people behind the scenes who have been responsible for the drafting of this legislation. Even more, I must say that I do look forward to the day when patients who are suffering as a result of a debilitating disease, illness or condition will have a great quality of life as a result of having access to medicinal cannabis products that were developed as a result of Australian research. I know that there are many who feel the same way.

Australia, with our outstanding scientists and high-class clinical trials, is now poised to be a world leader in the use of medicinal cannabis. I commend this bill to the House.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As speakers on this side of the House have said previously, Labor supports the need for medical cannabis and this bill, the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. We support it, because we understand the fact that there are many in our community who want to be able to access that for their very complex and painful medical conditions.

Patients who are suffering from a terminal illness or other serious medical conditions should be able to access safe, reliable and legal medicinal cannabis. In supporting this idea, we are driven by the science, by compassion and by the need to treat people with dignity. We firmly believe that the time has come for a national scheme.

In my electorate I have had so many locals and so many families calling for action on this issue. A diverse range of people from a diverse range of villages and towns throughout my electorate have approached me and told me their personal stories.

Can I also make the point that when it comes to health policy, there have not been many opportunities in this parliament where we have found common ground with the Liberals and with the Nationals. We have, indeed, criticised the government for many of the harsh health cuts made. But in this measure I think it is very important to note that we do have an agreement. I think it is fair to say that such a bipartisan view reflects the community's view across so many varying and differing sectors.

As an example, I note and commend groups such as the CWA, which supports measures like this. I look at the New South Wales CWA annual state conference in Tamworth in May 2015. They moved a motion there that controlled medical marijuana use should be allowed and sanctioned by the government. So we can see the support that is there. There is that massive support right across the community. It is for this reason that this bill is indeed a step in the right direction.

The reason for supporting this legislation is very clear. We know there are Australians suffering from pain or dealing with medical conditions who have sought relief from other medications that just have not worked. These same people are telling us that medical cannabis is providing relief for them. Even for those people who may not have met these people and heard firsthand of some of the very difficult situations that people are in, many would have seen some of those really disturbing television reports—particularly of young children suffering multiple seizures and so desperate for relief. I do not see how anyone cannot be moved by such personal stories.

In my electorate, I would like to read from a story that appeared in the Tweed Daily News in September 2014 by the journalist, Alina Rylko. It was a story called 'Cannabis oil soothes son'. It was in relation to a Tweed family with a 15-year-old permanently disabled son, who said:

… they have radically reduced his seizures with cannabis oil after exhausting all other legal treatments.

The couple, who do not want to use their real names for fear of prosecution, are calling for politicians to legalise the substance …

So that more families could experience the therapeutic benefits that their son had. They said:

… they have "exhausted" their neurologists, looking for ease from the seizures, which with every bout cause more brain damage.

"Some medications made him very aggro and had bad side-effects … It makes it hard for us to leave the house, go to special school, and to get out into the community."

The couple said that at special school their son was the only one using cannabis oil, due of course to the stigma attached to it:

"But there's of the kids there having seizures all the time … It would be so much more peaceful … if these kids were not having seizures, if they just legalised it."

That story was in the Tweed Daily News, as I said, from September 2014.

As it stands, the situation means that families who access medical cannabis products are now accessing it illegally and, in fact accessing it on the black market. That means, of course, that they are at risk of being arrested and convicted, it means they are unable to determine the exact ingredients and quality of the medicines that they or their loved ones are taking and it means they have no independent authority which has, in fact, assessed them. And, of course, no-one—no family—should have to choose between getting their loved one the medicine they need and breaking the law. It is simply an unfair choice to have to make.

I would like to point out the reaction from some of the locals in the town of Nimbin, which is in my electorate. Firstly, I would like to recognise that Nimbin is a wonderful, eclectic and creative town full of fantastic people who I think are sometimes criticised unfairly. When it was announced that this legislation would be brought forward to the parliament their reaction was one of being very pleased about it. But the point they made was—and this was a local anecdote in one of the papers—'We have been watching a long line of sick and dying people coming to town who are so desperate to get some sort of relief.' That is what they have been telling me in Nimbin for many years. Of course, many people were going to places like Nimbin, desperate to get some sort of relief for the pain that they were in. Indeed, there are thousands of Australians who are suffering from unbearable pain and chronic conditions who may benefit from medicinal cannabis. As I have said, patients who are suffering from a terminal illness or other serious medical conditions should be allowed access it.

This bill will put in place the supply chain arrangement that will allow the legal production of medical cannabis products. It is important to note that with the governments of New South Wales and Victoria pushing ahead with some of their state based schemes, this has really forced the Commonwealth to act now. Whilst we acknowledge the work of the government in bringing this bill to the House, it has indeed been Victorian Premier Andrews who has really provided national leadership and driven the national agenda around this.

The Victorian government is committed to legalising access to locally manufactured medicinal cannabis products for use in certain circumstances from 2017. And, indeed, the New South Wales government has also pursued medical trials of cannabis. I also note New South Wales Labor's strong support for medicinal cannabis.

If we turn to the specifics of the bill, only the Commonwealth government can ensure there is a national scheme which ensures equity of access and a safe and reliable supply. The bill deals with supply, but also establishes a tightly-controlled supply chain with multiple security measures. It deals with demand by allowing the prescription of these medicines by a doctor through a number of ways: special access schemes, authorised prescriber schemes and, of course clinical trials. The legislation is about ensuring there is a legal and regulated market so that family members and carers are not forced to rely on the black market.

The amendments will establish a licensing scheme for the cultivation of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes and two types of licences will be created. Firstly, an authorisation to cultivate cannabis for manufacture into medical cannabis products and, secondly, an authorisation to cultivate cannabis for scientific research into the cannabis plant that is to be used for medical cannabis.

The bill amends the Narcotic Drugs Act to permit the licensing of growers of medical cannabis in Australia. It provides new definitions for the issuing of licences for cannabis cultivation and production and it provides for a fit-and-proper-person's test to be applied to licensees by the Department of Health. The bill also overrides states and territories where there are direct inconsistencies with the licensing provisions that are in fact contained in the bill.

In addition to a licence, a cultivator will need a permit, and permits will be issued to control the amount of cannabis that is actually going to be produced. It is also important to focus on the access by the end users—the patients. Access to medical cannabis for those patients will be determined by suitable medical practitioners in accordance with the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and will be through either clinical trials, authorised prescribers or the special access schemes. Of course, it will predominantly be state governments that determine those particular schemes that will be in place.

In terms of the national Criminal Code, this bill establishes a scheme that allows the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. In turn, this creates a supply chain for cannabis medicines. These products can then be accessed by patients and carers with appropriate medical oversight through existing pathways through the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. The possession of cannabis products appropriately supplied under these provisions is not a criminal offence, and the national Criminal Code makes it clear that it will not be an offence to possess cannabis if it is duly authorised under another law of the Commonwealth such as through this particular legislative scheme that we have been speaking about tonight.

There are some issues that we would like to see the government working on with the legislation. We would like to see them move quickly to ensure that we do not have a patchwork of medical cannabis legal access arrangements emerging across the various states and territories. As I have said, we have seen Victoria and New South Wales moving to have these trials in place, and we do not want to see that patchwork of schemes developing without the national scheme in place. I certainly encourage the government to work quickly with the states to ensure that this rollout happens in a very timely manner.

Furthermore, we acknowledge a concern that we have with the drugs being accessed using the special access scheme and the authorised prescriber schemes when they are not eligible for PBS listing. We are concerned that these drugs in fact would remain expensive. That would mean that some families may not be able to access them then, so we ask and look to the government for some leadership in ensuring a fair approach to accessing the medical cannabis and ensuring that that can be achieved without becoming prohibitive for many families who are very desperate to be able to access it.

Those are a couple of concerns that we have that we would like the government to address, but the fact is that this bill is a really important measure to address a very real problem in our community. This is a very important step on the pathway to reform and change in this area. We have heard from many speakers on both sides tonight that the community has called for action on this issue for a long period of time. We have heard so many personal stories tonight about the need to have medical cannabis in place. I think it is particularly good to see the bipartisan support for measures like this.

In conclusion, we on this side of the House certainly do support these measures and can see the benefits for so many people, particularly those who are suffering from terminal illnesses and very complex illnesses as well, to get some relief through medicinal cannabis. It is for those reasons that Labor supports these measures. I commend the bill to the House.

Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure tonight to be in this chamber to speak about the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016—a bill that will enable the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes while still being compliant with Australia's international obligations.

The aim of this legislation is to allow Australian patients and their doctors to have access to a safe, legal and reliable supply of cannabis for the management of chronic and painful conditions. This legislation addresses the issue of the supply of medicinal cannabis in the marketplace. Currently, there are reports of people with chronic or painful conditions going to black market suppliers, risking both their health and criminal prosecutions. With the cultivation of cannabis currently disallowed in Australia, the demand is far outstripping supply.

Cannabis is not like many other products that can be readily and easily imported. Cannabis cultivation is subject to strict international controls and supplies for medicinal purposes are incredibly limited as well as expensive. As a result, this legislation aims to create the opportunity to cultivate cannabis in Australia for people living here who need access to medicinal cannabis. The drug will be available as prescribed by a doctor or as a part of a clinical trial. Let me repeat that: the drug will only be available as prescribed by a doctor or as a part of a clinical trial.

It is important to note that cannabis use for recreational purposes is illegal in Australia and will continue to be illegal under this legislation. The cultivation of cannabis for recreational purposes will also continue to be illegal. Australia has shown that it is able to cultivate narcotics for legitimate and medicinal purposes safely. This has been evidenced in the success of the poppy industry in Tasmania, with Australia being the world's largest supplier of painkillers derived from poppies.

This bill does not add cannabis to the therapeutic goods register, nor will this legislation make it available over the counter. Cannabis will not become a medicine that is available like paracetamol at the local chemist. It will still be tightly controlled, and those looking to use it for recreational purposes will not have access to the plant or its derivatives. The Turnbull government recognises that cannabis, whilst an illicit substance in most circumstances, does have medical benefits when used and prescribed carefully and correctly. This legislation is about minimising the harm for those who rely on cannabis for medicinal purposes but obviously cannot purchase the drug due to its legal status.

By allowing cannabis for medicinal purposes to be grown in Australia, the need to source black market products, to cultivate plants for personal use or to be a blatant abuser of the law will no longer be present. Instead a safe, legal, regulated supply will be available to those who have a genuine medical condition which can be managed with cannabis. I anticipate that this legislation will be of enormous benefit to a small but worthy number of people in my electorate.

I want to inform the House of some of the people in my electorate who this legislation may make a difference to. One woman in my electorate, Natalie Daley, has been in the local paper numerous times for her advocacy in relation to the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Mrs Daley, who lives with an adrenal gland carcinoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal glands, uses cannabis oil to help manage the symptoms of cancer and the chemotherapy treatment. Mrs Daley credits cannabis oil with relieving the symptoms of her treatment and in helping her gain weight. She has also said that it helped in reducing her nauseous feelings, made her able to eat and sleep, and improved her overall quality of life. Mrs Daley said: 'without this oil I would honestly be bedridden'.

Cannabis oil has also helped some of the youngest people in my electorate. April Tognoni, a little girl who suffers from myoclonic epilepsy, has been given cannabis oil by her parents and it has helped enormously in managing her condition. Myoclonic epilepsy is an incurable illness, and prior to using cannabis oil April was having about 1,000 seizures per day. By taking the cannabis oil every day, the seizures have reduced to as few as six per day. This has changed April's life and she has started to reach the development milestones of other children her age. For small children, where chronic conditions can delay their development and put them behind their peers well into adult life, the impacts of remedies like cannabis oil are significant. And I would not for a moment want to underestimate that.

As well as these two personal stories I have told you, I have heard of a number of elderly constituents in the community who suffer chronic pain and would potentially benefit from controlled use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. The problem is that these people are not willing to break the law to relieve their pain, and due to a lack of legal supply they are unable to get access to the drug, even with the support of their GPs.

In telling these stories from my electorate I must be clear that this bill does not do a number of things. It does not add cannabis to the therapeutic goods register, making it easily accessible for medicinal purposes by the wider population. Cannabis is and will still be a prohibited drug for recreational purposes. This legislation simply addresses the supply issue that is faced by those who wish to use cannabis for medical trials or for an approved medicinal purpose.

Cannabis will continue to be a very strictly controlled drug with very limited access. It will only be available when prescribed by a doctor or as part of a clinical trial. The Commonwealth government will work closely with state and territory governments on developing mechanisms to enable access to therapeutic cannabis products. There is already individual patient access available through the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 under the special access and authorised prescriber schemes, with proper medical supervision. This bill does not mean that anyone who suffers chronic pain or other conditions that cannabis has been used to treat will have access to the drug overnight. What this bill does is make cultivation of the plant legal in Australia for medicinal and scientific purposes.

I am sure there are those in the community who believe this is insufficient law reform, or that cannabis needs to be more accessible for medicinal purposes. I acknowledge that cannabis has many benefits in medicine and that access to medicinal cannabis under strict medical prescription and guidance for those it can genuinely help is something to be pursued in the future. However, in doing so we need to ensure it has had thorough clinical trials and that it is backed by science first. Otherwise, we just may create more harm than we seek to remedy in the first place.

In an extended interview with my local newspaper back in 2014, I was asked about my views on medicinal cannabis. This is what I said:

It's hard not to be moved on this by the stories I'm reading …

My view in life, from my Christian perspective, God makes every plant and it's like life, we make choices with what we do with things …

We can do … things that are good and we can do things with stuff that are evil.

I'm keeping a very open mind on this.

I am concerned about the control measures, but I don't think we should let that stand in the way of a good community discussion.

Those words from me were from 18 months ago. I can say tonight that I am convinced that the appropriate mechanisms are in place through this legislation. This legislation is a strong step towards exploring how cannabis can be safely used for medicinal purposes. I strongly support it and encourage all members of parliament to do so as well. I commend the bill to the House.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016 will provide a legislative framework that will enable cannabis cultivation in Australia and provide Australian patients in need with access to medicinal cannabis for a range of therapeutic purposes in the future. Often this is for the alleviation of serious and chronic pain and will have to be prescribed by a doctor or as part of a clinical trial.

Currently in Australia, there are systems in place to license the manufacture and supply of cannabis based products; however, there is no mechanism to allow the cultivation of a safe, legal and sustainable local supply of cannabis raw material. This bill does not legalise cannabis use and cultivation for recreational purposes. The government understands that there are some Australians suffering from severe medical conditions for which cannabis may have some application, and we want to enable access to the most effective medical treatments available.

A 2013 New South Wales parliamentary report stated that:

… on the present medical evidence, cannabis based treatments will only be appropriate for a small number of people in specific circumstances, and under the supervision of medical practitioners with suitable expertise. Those patients would necessarily be people with severe and distressing symptoms that are not able to be addressed by existing medications.

At the same time, it is important we maintain the same high safety standards for products derived from cannabis that we apply to any other medicine. It is imperative that we have a clear national licensing system to ensure that we maintain the integrity of crops for medicinal or scientific purposes only.

The national approach will allow the Commonwealth, acting with the states and territories, to closely manage the supply of cannabis products from farm to pharmacy. There is no question that this will have to be carefully managed, inspected, monitored and investigated, given that Australians, including adolescent Australians, are frequently addicted to cannabis. This will be particularly important. A secure process of growing, harvesting, manufacturing and delivery will need to be very carefully managed. The amendments will also ensure that, when cultivation and production of cannabis and manufacture of products for medicinal purposes begin, Australia will remain compliant with its international treaty obligations as defined in the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961.

The Commonwealth currently has laws to regulate the import, export and manufacture of cannabinoids and cannabis raw material, but these do not allow the cultivation in Australia of cannabis plants for medicinal purposes. The manufacturing provisions in the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 are considered inadequate to properly manage the risks associated with the potential for diversion of medicinal cannabis products and other narcotic drugs. The reason that this is necessary is very clear. The Australian Crime Commission's Illicit drug data report of 2013-14 states:

Cannabis continues to dominate the Australian illicit drug market and remains the leading illicit drug in Australia in terms of seizures, arrests and use.

The critical point here is that cannabis is the leading illicit drug used in Australia. The weight of cannabis border detections in 2013-14 was the highest reported in the last decade, and there were 53,404 border detections and 66,684 arrests nationally, which is another reason appropriate federal legislation is required.

There will be significant pressure on the growers and manufacturers from organised crime and opportunists. Law enforcement will be taking a very close look at the regulations that we are providing. The requirements for cannabis cultivation under the international single convention are quite different from those for poppies grown for non-opium-producing purposes, because of the significantly different risks to public health from the diversion of the crop that I have just spoken about.

As we know, cannabis is dangerous to adolescents during their developmental years. It is a drug that is associated with schizophrenia, psychosis, the development of mental illness and the risk of suicide. Parents talk about changes in their children's moods, anxiety and difficulty with thinking, learning and problem solving, so the strength in this legislation is particularly important to parents. Of course, we do see people taking risks in this space—buying illegal drugs online, and through illegal suppliers. Often they have no idea what it is that they are buying and what is in that product.

There are a number of checks and balances in this bill, as we know, for cultivation, production, manufacture, importation and distribution. These are tightly controlled in Australia, and they are covered under a range of Commonwealth laws. The amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 will ensure that any therapeutic product, including medicinal cannabis, also meets Australia's international obligations that safeguard its production, manufacture and distribution for medical and scientific purposes only.

As I said, there are a number of checks and balances to cannabis licences, including a strict fit and proper person test. This will be applied to the applicant and relevant business associates and will involve consideration of a range of matters, including criminal history, connections, associates and family, financial status, business history and capacity to comply with licensing requirements. Licence holders will be required and expected to remain fit and proper. This test is explicitly designed to ensure the exclusion of criminal elements, including organised crime, which may be tempted to use the licence system as a cover for illegal activities—and you can guarantee that criminal elements will try.

There will be a need to demonstrate a supply arrangement with a licensed manufacturer, a permit system for controlling how much cannabis can be produced, and conditions applying to the licence to ensure the security of the crop—that it is not diverted to illicit uses, and I see this as a really critical element of this bill. There will also be substantial penalties for breaches of conditions and for undertaking unauthorised activities. There is a comprehensive suite of regulatory controls and powers: to give directions to licence holders of inspection, monitoring and investigation; to issue infringement notices and seek civil penalties; to accept enforceable undertakings; and to seek injunctions. These are all to assist in ensuring the integrity of the system. In supporting this legislation, I have no doubt that these regulatory and enforcement requirements will be important in managing the effects of this legislation over time.

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. Currently in Australia there are systems in place to license the manufacture and supply of cannabis based products. However, there is no mechanism to allow the cultivation of a safe, legal and sustainable local supply of cannabis. This is a situation which limits the options available to patients when it comes to pain prevention medication. Provisions enabled by the legislation currently before the House will deliver responsible and reasonable supply of raw material for the manufacture of medicinal cannabis for therapeutic and scientific purposes. This bill is consistent with public opinion. In 2013 the National Drug Strategy Household Survey showed that 69 per cent of Australians support a change to legislation permitting the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The bill takes a reasonable approach to provision of medical services and enables a strong framework to be put in place for the cultivation and manufacture of medicinal cannabis in this country. It is a bill which provides the critical missing piece, if you like, for the Commonwealth to enable a sustainable supply of safe medicinal cannabis products to Australian patients in the future. In conjunction with established mechanisms, the amendments provide a secure supply chain from farm to pharmacy.

We have taken a balanced and comprehensive approach to this legislation which will deliver a strong balance between patient access, community protection and Australia's international obligations. This approach has been informed by a debate which has occurred within the community around this issue. There is currently growing concern for the welfare of those with terminal diseases and multiple sclerosis and of children with intractable forms of epilepsy. It is widely acknowledged that, due to supply issues, these individuals may be being unfairly denied access to effective pain relief. There is an undeniable consensus that persons suffering from such conditions should have ready access to affordable medicinal cannabis products that their doctor can prescribe.

The Australian government is in broad agreement and is taking action today, through this bill, to deliver better outcomes for our health system and its patients. The intent of this bill is not to legalise the use of cannabis in Australia. Rather, it is a bill which delivers a strong, sustainable and safe supply of medicinal cannabis for the use of some in our society most in need when it comes to pain relief. The status quo is simply not sufficient, with some patients turning to the black market, sadly, for    cannabis products for their use. Not only do they risk their own physiological safety, through a lack of medical assurance; they also inadvertently fund organised criminal networks, which affects the safety of us all.

It is the role of government to deliver assistance to those least able to deal with things themselves, and certainly the provision of adequate health care is part of that social compact. This government believes that, in the same way that the use of pain medication derived from opiates should not be conflated with the use of illegal substances such as heroin, the use of medicinal cannabis should not be conflated with the recreational use of marijuana. This bill employs such a distinction and it delivers a sound policy framework which protects the legitimate needs of the industry in delivering adequate supply from the corruptive influences of organised crime.

There are some important steps and safeguards that must be enacted to ensure that the system delivers for those in need. Because of the criminality associated with the use of cannabis, decisions to use medicinal cannabis are often made without appropriate medical advice from suitable medical specialists. Further, due to strict supply safeguards which are rightly imposed on the export of cannabis, both domestically and internationally, supply is a significant issue for many users.

As I have said, currently in Australia there are systems in place to license the manufacture and supply of cannabis based products. However, there is no mechanism to allow the cultivation of a safe, legal and sustainable local supply of the raw material. In order to rectify this situation, the coalition government is today putting in place an architecture which will inform the cultivation, production and manufacture of medicinal cannabis across the nation.

It is vital that we have a clear national licensing system to ensure the integrity of crops for this purpose and this purpose alone. These legislative amendments allow the government to track the development of medicinal cannabis products from cultivation to supply. When it comes to cultivation, this bill provides two types of licences: one for the production of cannabis for medicinal purposes and one for the production of cannabis for research purposes related to medicinal purposes. This will put in place the legal avenues which will deliver producers clear guidelines about their rights and responsibilities. This will provide clarity to the industry and accountability to government.

Part of the licensing arrangement will be the application of a 'fit and proper' test. This test will apply to applicants for a licence to cultivate, licence holders and relevant business associates and family members. In putting in place this testing arrangement, the Commonwealth is taking on board advice from the Australian Crime Commission and the Australian Federal Police. The test will ensure that prospective participants in the industry will have the financial wherewithal to discharge the obligations of holding a cultivation licence. This will ensure that organised criminal networks cannot leverage instability in the marketplace to manipulate cultivators and distributors. Such a test ensures that organised criminal elements do not use the scheme as a cover for their illicit activities. The 'fit and proper' test delivers an adequate level of protection to the industry and will fundamentally ensure the industry's integrity. In so doing, it will enable the industry to provide the consistency required in supply.

The last thing this government wants to do is provide an avenue for organised criminal networks to exploit the legitimate needs of Australian citizens when it comes to health care. That is why, on top of applying the 'fit and proper' test to prospective cultivators through to distributors, the government is updating the outdated deterrent penalty provisions which were enacted in 1967 and have, unfortunately, lost the gravity of their intended deterrent effect. This is particularly the case with financial penalties for unauthorised cultivation.

Further, this bill will not override any state or territory legislation dealing with criminal activities associated with the illegal cultivation and trafficking of cannabis that occurs outside the regulatory scheme established by this bill. The Australian government has made a commitment to work collaboratively with state and territory governments to not only share knowledge and information on issues related to the appropriate use of therapeutic products derived from cannabis but also consider health and law enforcement concerns for the control of cannabis in Australia.

This bill is taking steps to satisfy the supply issues that plague the provision of medicinal cannabis in Australia. It provides clarity to industry about their rights and responsibilities as cultivators and delivers strong accountability and integrity to the community. The bill sets the framework in place for a sustainable supply of locally cultivated raw material for the provision of medicinal cannabis, whilst ensuring the system is not manipulated by organised criminal networks. I cannot think of a better place for growing medicinal cannabis than in my electorate, be it in the Riverland in the north or the irrigated areas of the south-east, but that of course will be a matter for industry and government in full consultation. This bill provides better outcomes for our health system and ultimately better outcomes for our citizens. I commend it to the House.

Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. From my perspective, it is a very significant day when medical cannabis is acknowledged as being a product that makes a real difference to people suffering from chronic conditions or terminal disease. It will mean that patients and their family members will no longer have to hide in the shadows to source cannabis off the street. They will have a pathway to access safe and effective product and to access that product legally.

This evening I would like to provide a brief overview of the bill, but more importantly I would like to talk about the people that have contributed in so many ways to my journey of acknowledgement and recognition of the properties of this product.

Through the bill, the Commonwealth will oversee all regulatory aspects of cultivation of cannabis for medical and research purposes through one national scheme. The products that are likely to be available are cannabis tincture for children, oil for adults and raw product for vaporising. Patients would be able to access the product either by taking part in clinical trials or through a scheme whereby GPs, or other medical professionals, would be able to apply to become authorised prescribers. This would initially focus on childhood epilepsy where the effectiveness of medical cannabis is very well documented, to the treatment of nausea resulting from chemotherapy, to HIV treatment and palliative relief. However, other patients suffering from chronic and ongoing conditions will also be able to apply to the authorised prescriber for access to these products.

I cannot thank enough the people that have helped on this journey by sharing their stories and/or by educating me. From a personal perspective, I first became aware of the value of this product from my late brother-in-law Joel Garrett. At the age of 28 Joel was diagnosed with MS. His physician said that it was the most aggressive form of MS that he had ever seen or treated. Sadly, Joel died at the age of 33 on 21 June 2005.

During the course of his illness, in an effort to give him relief, his mum and his sister had to source product in Adelaide. Speaking to them, they explained how difficult it was having to go out to try and get product. It was the only thing that gave Joel the relief that he needed. He had uncontrollable shakes towards the end of his life and no amount of medication that they could give him would make any difference at all to his circumstance. However, by accessing this substance he was able to control his shakes. It gave him a quality of life that he could achieve from nowhere else, and this was right up until the day he died. In reflecting on Joel's journey, that has had a huge impact on the family. I know for a fact that Joel will be up there somewhere saying, 'At last they've recognised it,' and he would be greatly appreciative of what we are doing here.

It was quite some time later when I was watching a 60 Minutes program—I think it was in 2014—that I saw Lucy and Lou Haslam, and the battle their son, Daniel, was having facing bowel cancer. Lou was a former drug squad officer, yet he and Lucy were also forced to access cannabis to address Daniel's chemotherapy induced nausea, and they shared that story with all of Australia. That really brought back to me the memories of the challenges that Joel's mum and sister had all those years ago.

I made an effort and was privileged to meet Lucy at a meeting of the cross-party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy and Law Reform in mid-2014. We had a chat about it. We also had a chat about Daniel's condition, and the fact that the only way that he could get relief to stop the nausea to allow him to have a meal after chemotherapy—and allow him to maintain his weight to continue to have his treatment—was by using this substance. Sadly, Daniel is not with us anymore. Nevertheless, I would like to acknowledge the legacy that has been left by Daniel and particularly Lucy and Lou Haslam for the work that they have done.

I also spoke to Lanai Carter in Brisbane. She told me about her family's trips backwards and forwards to the United States to access treatment for her son Lindsay, the benefit it had for his brain tumour induced seizures and their ongoing challenge in navigating the TGA's Special Access Scheme.

While they are anecdotal, these stories reinforced my understanding of the benefits of medical cannabis. This was further strengthened by Dr Alex Wodak, who is an Emeritus Consultant for Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital and President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation; Dr David Caldicott, head of the emergency department at Calvary Hospital; and Dr David Allsop, research fellow at the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney, who told me about the 'regulatory thicket', as he called it, in trying to deal with this problem.

I also had the opportunity of meeting with the Therapeutic Goods Administration, who briefed me on the regulatory environment to help to try and get some understanding on it, and to speak with Lachie Stuart from the Australian Cannabis Industry Association for their perspective on how legal marijuana markets overseas work and the role of licensed producers and regulators, with Debbi Cliff in Cairns, who has a wealth of knowledge about medicinal cannabis together with her own chronic health conditions and intolerance to traditional pain medications, and Josh Waldron, who promoted medicinal cannabis through public meetings and organised the Medical Marijuana March for the Sick and Dying. I think it is also important to acknowledge the efforts of the Queensland state LNP convention to rally support at the Queensland legislative level. I was really proud of the fact that they did that.

All along I have been in contact with hundreds and hundreds of people from all around Australia and I have been overwhelmed by the level of support. Locally, I was touched by the families who contacted me—desperate for an opportunity to use medicinal cannabis in a safe, legal and regulated way. In particular, I mention Sherri Hickey of Cairns, whose daughters Emily and Elyshia suffer a rare genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. This causes them to suffer constant pain, dislocations, migraines and allergies to pain medication. Sherri said:

I have been tempted many times to consider trying cannabis for Elyshia. But the risk of getting caught for doing something illegal stops me. It would be so much safer under the supervision of a doctor … Thank you for supporting the needs of sick children.

Also in Cairns, Jodie Higginson's nine-year-old daughter, Kiara, has a rare form of epilepsy called Jeavons syndrome, which causes hundreds of light-triggered seizures every day. She is on constant medication, which causes side effects and severe reactions. Jodie said:

Thank you so much for advocating for this natural alternative to drugs. I hope kids and adults who suffer daily unnecessarily will soon get the chance to see if this wonderful natural alternative offers them relief.

This bill is a vital step. It will enable the cultivation and manufacture of a legal product in Australia and it is the 'missing piece' that we have been struggling with. It will enable states and territories to put in their own legislation to allow this to happen. Let us make sure we get the basics right—things like crop security and avoiding the stockpiling of product. After that, we may even be able to look at exporting Australian medicinal cannabis to address the global shortage of legal product. In the meantime, I will do everything in my power to help get this through as quickly as possible so that the states can allow cultivation to start and so that patients can have legal access as soon as possible.

In closing, I would again like to commend the members of the cross-party group, including Dr Sharman Stone, Senator Richard Di Natale and Melissa Parke, for their ongoing advocacy. I also offer my heartfelt congratulations to our Minister for Health, Sussan Ley, for her work in introducing this bill. Today I am very proud to support legislation which will have a profound, positive impact on so many Australians' quality of life. I commend the bill to the House.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government is building an innovative and sustainable economy for a safe and secure Australia, and this bill is a demonstration of the compassion of those of us on this side of the chamber. I am pleased to rise today to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016.

This government is a progressive government. Not only are we creating a more sustainable economy; we are also making Australia a better place to live. This bill will allow the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes while remaining compliant with Australia's international obligations. To my constituents I stress that we are not legalising marijuana; we are allowing those who need to access cannabis to do so. I think it is worth repeating: we are not legalising marijuana. We are allowing those who need to access cannabis to do so in a safe manner.

Presently there is a global shortage of legal product capable of being supplied through existing pathways under the Therapeutic Goods Act; so clearly we need to address this supply side problem. I think this is a historic day in Australia's parliamentary history. For years, decades and generations, people in this country have fought to legalise marijuana for medicinal purposes. For many families and friends, this bill is the missing piece in their relative's or friend's journey in managing the impacts of serious health conditions—such as epilepsy, Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis—as we heard in the very emotional speech from the member for Leichhardt, who outlined many very personal stories of people who would have liked to have the opportunity to use medicinal cannabis. So I do stand here today as a proud member of the Turnbull government, who have taken the first steps towards that goal.

I assume that we do count on bipartisan support for this much-needed legislative change. This measure will ensure that when cultivation, production and manufacture of cannabis for medicinal purposes begins, Australia will remain compliant with its international treaty obligations as defined in the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961. The bill provides that the Commonwealth will oversee all regulatory aspects of the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes through a national scheme. This removes the need for states and territories to implement legislation to set up individual cultivation schemes and ensures that laws are consistent across Australia.

Two types of cultivation licences will be available once this bill passes. One allows for the cultivation of cannabis plants for the production of cannabis for medicinal and related purposes, and the other authorises cultivation for research purposes related to medicinal cannabis.

As a member of parliament, I see my duty as being to ensure the safety of all Australians, not just to the people in my electorate of Durack. I am concerned that some people are so desperate to obtain medicinal cannabis that they are currently accessing unsafe, illegal supplies of cannabis which in many cases are administered by unqualified and untrained individuals—which exposes them to health risks, not to mention the possibility of prosecution.

This measure will enable the domestic cultivation of cannabis for use in clinical trials, scientific research and medicinal purposes. I must repeat once again that this is not legalising marijuana. We are not and we will not. We will only be allowing those who need to access medicinal cannabis the opportunity to do so in a safe manner.

Where the cultivation of cannabis is for production into medicinal cannabis products for supply to patients, these patients will be managed to ensure that the amounts of product manufactured are planned in advance, are relative to proposed usage and do not exceed permitted manufacturing limits.

Under this measure, Australia must report regularly to the International Narcotics Control Board, which oversees the implementation of the single convention on quantities of narcotics produced, manufactured and used, with a view to preventing stockpiling of raw material beyond national and global needs. These amendments are designed to ensure the Commonwealth is able to fulfil this obligation. And just so we are clear, this measure will not override state legislation dealing with criminal activities associated with the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis.

While this measure was not a 2013 coalition election commitment, I truly believe it does demonstrate that this government is not only listening to but in touch with the needs of the Australian public. It is worth noting that those opposite had the opportunity to bring in the same reforms during their six years in government but they failed to do so. I am pleased that we are here today discussing its introduction.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge the hard work of Minister Ley, the Minister for Health, in getting this measure to the House. I note that we will require state and territory governments to pass their own legislation and I wish them all swift passage in this regard. I commend this bill to the House.

Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great honour to speak on this bill. My support for it is predicated not only on the soundness of its principles. In meeting local families distressed by painful and chronic conditions, I have been granted a personal window on an anguished existence, where access to a safe, legal and reliable supply of medicinal cannabis would bring enormous relief. The sooner a robust legislative and regulatory process can be put in place the better. And this, the Narcotic Drug Amendment Bill 2016, will achieve that, for the first time creating a nationally consistent licensing scheme, regulating the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes.

The cultivation of cannabis is not currently authorised and regulated under the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. This bill is about common sense and balance, reconciling the right to patient access with an undiminished commitment to community protection and Australia's international obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961. The bill allows for a legal supply of cannabis to be incorporated in safe and quality-assessed medicinal cannabis products. Patients will no longer have to turn to the black market as a means of mitigating their suffering and that of those who love and care for them, predominately their family and friends. The new laws will enshrine appropriate medical supervision around the use of these products. And when they are accessed in accordance with the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and relevant state and territory law, patients will not be exposed to criminal prosecution or the health risks associated with materials of unknown safety and quality.

Indeed, in straddling many sensitivities, these laws have demanded the stamp of consistency. The Commonwealth will control all regulatory aspects of the cultivation of medicinal cannabis through one national scheme, removing the capacity for states and territories to implement legislation to set up individual cultivation schemes. The result will be strong, consistent regulation right across the nation. In allowing the government to closely track the development of cannabis products for medicinal use from cultivation to supply, a national regulator will also curtail any attempts by criminals to get involved.

This is no accidental bill. We are here today because the overwhelming voice of our collective community, supported, I am happy to say, by bipartisan political leadership, has made it so. The last thing seriously ill patients or those plagued by chronic conditions need to contend with is an acute brush with the law. It is a real concern when desperately unwell people are forced to turn plain desperate, accessing unsafe, illegal supplies of cannabis and, in so doing, exposing themselves to both health risks and potential prosecution. At the same time, this government has the greatest compassion for these very same Australians and wants to ensure they are afforded access to the most effective medical treatments. To address this, the government is allowing for domestic cultivation and manufacture. I have no doubt that if passed, the legislation will see a reduction in the suffering of so many Australians, wherever their doctors determine medicinal cannabis to be of potential benefit.

There are provisions relating to the production and distribution of medicinal cannabis dating back to the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 and the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. Authorised prescribers include specialists working with particular patient groups and clinical trials run by research institutions and state and territory governments. However, these historic statutes are out of step with best practice, contemporary regulation. And the fact remains that Australia does not have a safe, legal and reliable supply of locally grown cannabis to satisfy the community expectation that it could and would provide relief for some patients, including those with terminal cancer, multiple sclerosis and children with intractable forms of epilepsy.

What we are talking about here is a ready source of medicinal cannabis products that doctors may prescribe, if appropriate. This legislation which has been described as the missing piece to patient access, establishes a licensing scheme for safe cultivation in Australia in complete accordance with Australia's international obligations and domestic interests, including minimising the risk of diversion to illicit use.

The obligations on Australia under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 are to control the cultivation, distribution and use of cannabis in a manner consistent with the legal uses provided for within the single convention. As well, the introduction of a rigorous 'fit and proper persons' test in the bill is squarely aimed at shutting out organised crime elements, protecting public health and preventing the risks of diversion and profiteering from the black market. Australia must also report regularly to the International Narcotics Control Board, which oversees the implementation of the single convention on quantities of narcotics produced, manufactured and used in order to preventing stockpiling of raw material beyond national and global needs.

To be clear, the bill amends the manufacturing provisions under the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 to: ensure the integrity and security of the scheme such as through introduction of the 'fit and proper person test' for applicants for a manufacturing licence; update enforcement and penalty provisions to be consistent with modern regulatory practice; require applicants for a manufacturing licence for medicinal cannabis products to demonstrate a lawful supply pathway to patients, such as through a specific clinical trial or other supply that is permitted under the provisions of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 such as the authorised prescriber scheme.

Importantly, the bill does not override state and territory legislation dealing with criminal activities associated with the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis that occurs outside the regulatory scheme established by the amendments. This is a hugely significant moment for Australia and for the many patients, families and advocates who have fought loudly and relentlessly to demystify and destigmatise medicinal cannabis products.

The Turnbull government has worked closely with the states and territories, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders over a long period to ensure the efficacy and robustness of the bill. After years of minefields and roadblocks, we now have the opportunity to secure a smooth legislative passage for these new laws. It is our chance to make a real difference in the lives of many Australians and their loved ones. We must do it and, for those reasons, I commend the bill to the House.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016, which is to enable legally controlled cannabis cultivation in Australia whilst meeting Australia has obligations under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961. Currently we can already import or export cannabinoids or derivatives of cannabis sativa or raw cannabis material but it is certainly not legal to grow it in Australia. As no doubt the House has already heard, we have had opium and opiate production on an industrial agricultural scale in Australia for many years. In fact, we are demonstrably probably one of the biggest legal supplies of opiates in the world. That has been controlled under the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967, under which cannabis is classified.

Before we go into what is proposed, I will say a few words about why it is needed. Many people have had stories outlined to them in the popular press of people with unfortunate diseases, whether it be advanced malignancy, multiple sclerosis, some children afflicted with intractable forms of epilepsy, finding great relief that finally, after many variations of pharmacology treatment, they can get something that helps the condition.

The first time I as a medical practitioner came to this awareness was many years ago when my late brother-in-law, who suffered from breast cancer in his midtwenties, had advanced disease. The only thing that helped him with his protracted vomiting as a result of the horrible cancer that spread to his meningeal system inside his brain was marijuana. Many children suffering from paediatric epilepsy have had miraculous responses to cannabis derived oils. People with multiple sclerosis and other painful conditions have responded; although some of those pain responses are not uniform. There are very many other analgesics or painkillers available.

For the record, there are many people in Australia, particularly in my electorate, who have raised their eyebrows and thought, 'Are you really legalising cannabis?' I would just like to place on the record that is not the intent of this legislation. We know in other countries, particularly North America, the medicinal or the so-called medicinal use of marijuana for vague and ill-defined medical conditions has been a soft convenient avenue to obtain marijuana. That is not what is intended by this bill. There have been derivative drugs from cannabis made—CBD oils, and an inhalant medication—which have been useful for the wasting and fading away that is seen in advanced HIV, AIDS and in malignancy, and they are very useful. So it is great that we are going to apply some due process and allow the production and cultivation of specific strains of marijuana and subsequently down the track of cannabis oils and tinctures and get some science behind it all. There is a crying need for it and it is great that we have got this bipartisan support to the process.

What is proposed under this bill are two streams of licensing. First of all, there will be a licence for the cultivation of cannabis so that medicinal cannabis products can be manufactured. The second is a licence for research into cannabis plants and the many other potential uses. The literature is filled with ad hoc descriptions of benefit from cannabis but this will allow us to apply some science to it. There will be strict conditions. People who obtain a licence must fall under the definition of a fit and proper person, and that will be applied rigorously. Business associates, partners and any other criminal linkages would be exhaustively checked, and there must be a substantial business history. The licence holders are designed to be people without any criminal elements or links, of course. There has to be an obvious supply arrangement between the manufacturers or the processors in order to get such a licence. The amount of cannabis that can be produced will be controlled by the licence, and that is very important if we are going to meet our commitments under the single convention so that we cannot stockpile huge amounts of marijuana that could then be diverted into illegal trade.

The security of the crop of marijuana, or cannabis, is paramount. You only have to visit the Apple Isle to see the security around the production of opium poppies for the production of opiates and heroin and all the other opiates that are required for medicinal purposes, and that same principle will apply with this. There will be penalties for offences or breaches of any of the conditions of the licence. There will be regular inspection, monitoring and investigation processes in place, and there will be the ability to give infringement notices for those licence holders that breach their conditions. As I mentioned earlier, there has to be a formal and a demonstrable business relationship between the licenced manufacturer and having a recognised and legitimate supply chain in place to meet the criteria for a licence.

The amount that needs to be produced will be determined by licenced medical practitioners in association with the TGA, and all the regular state licensing and scheduling of drugs will continue. It is not going to bypass any of the existing regulatory pathways in place; it will just complement them and allow the development and research of further cannabis related products—perhaps further CBD and low-hallucinogenic forms of cannabis. The main emphasis is to expand the area of medicinal cannabis, not regular marijuana use and the use of medicinal reasons as an excuse to get it. That is far away from the intent of this legislation or the push from around the country to legalise it.

I am looking forward to some good outcomes. New South Wales has taken a lead in the research. This legislation will permit their initiatives to go further. I commend the bill to the House.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today's legislation has been described as a landmark bill and the missing piece for patients and doctors around Australia. Through the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016, the Turnbull government is proposing to allow patients and their doctor access to a safe, legal and reliable supply of medicinal cannabis products. I stand today in full support of this legislation, and I commend the Minister for Health and the Turnbull government for their work in helping to make this a reality.

For people like Michael from Calga, in my electorate on the Central Coast, it is a day that he thought would never come. Michael sent me a moving letter about his daughter, Katelyn, who has a genetic fault that is linked to catastrophic epilepsy and uncontrollable seizures. At one stage, Michael said that his daughter was suffering 1,400 seizures a day from the age of six months and was hospitalised nine times in just four months. I am advised that not even the attention of qualified health professionals in Sydney and the Central Coast could help Katelyn recover, with what some described as a one in two chance of dying before she was 18 years of age and a 100 per cent chance of intellectual disability.

When he first approached me—and I met both Michael and Katelyn—Michael pleaded with me to do whatever we could as a government to help save his little girl. He wrote: 'Please help us by doing what needs to be done to give the families of catastrophic epileptics and the terminally ill access to safe, legal and reliable medicinal cannabis.' That struck me as a heartfelt plea from a father about his daughter. I am pleased to say that Michael has found some relief through an arrangement with the New South Wales government, which has set up a register for terminally-ill users of medicinal cannabis. But, in speaking with Michael this week and as this bill comes before the House, he emphasized to me that the federal government needs to take the lead. I am pleased to say that today's legislation is the step forward that could change his and his daughter's situation for the better.

Another family who may benefit from providing safe access to medicinal cannabis is Brendan from Umina Beach. Brendan's teenage daughter has been diagnosed with a rare disorder. When she has an attack arising from this disorder, the pain is so severe that she is hospitalised for weeks. It has been a really difficult journey for them and for their family, and even their experience in obtaining a diagnosis was frustrating, devastating and confusing, all at once. After numerous tests and quite a few hospital visits, Brendan was told that there was nothing wrong with his daughter. A few more visits later and the pain was eventually traced to the gall bladder. They were informed that, if the gall bladder was removed and the pain attacks kept happening, then it was likely to be revealed as a very rare dysfunction known as the sphincter of Oddi dysfunction, more common in women over 40. Sure enough, the gall bladder was removed, but just a couple of months later the attacks returned.

I am told that Brendan's daughter was given 20 different types of medicines, but, according to Brendan and his family, it only made it worse. By this time, of course, Brendan's wife was struggling to hold on to her job because of the frequent hospital visits, and I dare say that this is an all too common occurrence for the many families in this situation. It was also taking an emotional toll on their other daughter, who was impacted every day by seeing her sister in pain. I am advised that the family were told that access to medicinal cannabis may have been beneficial to Brendan's daughter. Brendan told me that they were desperate and begging for help and felt that they were at a dead end. Writing from beside his daughter's hospital bed, Brendan told me, 'At the current moment our lives are ruined, and the only thing that could help is medicinal cannabis oil.' Thanks to this legislation, this may now be possible.

Finally, I would also like to share Clare's story. She is a resident of Davistown. Clare's husband suffered two melanomas. One was very aggressive. Clare said it was a very painful time for him, and, although the heavy pain killers did give him some bearable relief, he was severely nauseated, could not eat and was having nightmares, all because of the medicine. He died in January 2000. Only after this terrible and devastating loss did Clare find that medicinal cannabis may have actually been able to help her husband through this awful time. She told me she would have accessed it at the time if she could, but of course it just was not possible.

Thanks to this legislation, we have a positive story to tell Michael, Brendan and Clare and many other families and residents on the Central Coast and indeed around our nation. But, before I go on, it is also fair to say that what we are debating today has been contentious, at times misunderstood, and described by critics as part of a slippery slope to the decriminalization of drugs. It is a discussion that we need to have, but I believe that this is a separate debate. What we have in this legislation is a potential solution to assist people in painful and chronic situations who are being denied access to potentially legal drugs that could provide significant help. Doctors are at the centre of the decision-making process, which is strictly controlled. This legislation opens the way for patients who need it most, as I have outlined in these three real-life stories, and helps them to be able to get access to the help they need: medical relief as determined by medical practitioners.

Part of making today possible has been the process undertaken by the Turnbull government in working closely with states and territories, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in recent months. I understand that the priority was to ensure that this legislation was robust before bringing it to the parliament and to seek to eliminate any potential for criminal involvement. Part of this involves establishing a safe, legal and reliable supply of locally grown cannabis so the drugs can be manufactured to help patients who need them.

The solution outlined in this bill is a single nationally consistent cultivation scheme that meets all of our national and international obligations. Indeed, Australia is a signatory to a global convention which requires that production, manufacture, export, import, distribution, trade and possession of narcotic drugs such as cannabis is restricted exclusively to medical and scientific purposes. In many cases the long-term evidence is not yet complete about the ongoing use of various medicinal cannabis products—which we heard earlier this evening—which means that the central role of medical professionals is to monitor and authorise its use, and this is so important. I am advised that this set-up will allow the government to closely track the development of cannabis products for medicinal use, all the way from cultivation to supply.

I believe that this bill goes a long way towards assuring people in my electorate of Robertson about the importance of making medicinal cannabis available in an appropriate, legal and regulated way. It is bold, groundbreaking and essential policy, and I commend this bill to the House.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight also to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. This is a very important issue to me, but, more importantly, it is a hugely important issue to the many electors and constituents that I represent in the federal seat of Brisbane. I want to thank them very much for their input to this debate. I thank them for the comments that I have been receiving. Many of them are very, very pleased that we are speaking to this bill and supporting this bill from both sides of the House.

The Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016 will for the first time create a nationally consistent licensing scheme which will regulate the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes. The use of marijuana for medical purposes has been a very contentious issue, and I think everyone who has spoken to this bill tonight has said that. It has been a contentious issue, and it has been an ongoing discussion not just for this parliament or the people of Australia but for many, many people around the world, and many governments have looked at this. I want to pay tribute to the Minister for Health, the Hon. Sussan Ley, for the work that she and her department have done on this. Time and time again, we were confronted with the unquestionable evidence that is out there, particularly the scientific evidence, so it was time to see this legislation passed so that the people who need this legislation to go through, who are in dire need of the treatment, can finally get what they need to help them through some very difficult and very, very hard illnesses that they are suffering from.

The cultivation of cannabis is not currently authorised, and it is not regulated under the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. The Commonwealth will control all regulatory aspects of the cultivation of medical cannabis through one national scheme, removing the capacity for states and territories to implement legislation to set up individual cultivation schemes. That is going to be a very good thing because it will mean that across the board there will be consistent regulation across the country.

This amendment typifies the government's brave leadership on what I said earlier was often a contentious and very often a hugely contested issue for many aspects of society. The need for the bill arose to address the community expectation about the need for certain patient groups to access medicinal products derived from cannabis. Many of the speakers tonight have spoken about those very groups. International supply is limited. To address this, the government is allowing for domestic cultivation and manufacture and making sure that it will be safe, it will be legal, and it will be reliable.

We have seen many examples in the media in recent months of honest parents who just needed to help their children. Many of these cases were absolutely heartbreaking. They were breaking the law at the time, but they wanted to seek the absolutely optimal treatment for their children so their children did not have to suffer endlessly. It was a concern at the time that there were very desperate patients. They needed to access safe supplies of cannabis and not expose themselves to health risks by accessing those unsafe, illegal supplies of cannabis. Also we needed to make sure there was no risk of prosecution for those parents and members of the community. No-one blames anyone for this; no-one is blaming police about prosecutions in the past.

We are here today to make sure that this legislation is put right so that many families can access the treatment that they need and deserve. The new legislation will enable domestic cultivation of cannabis for use in clinical trials, for scientific research and for other medicinal purposes as allowed under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. The bill also sets up a licensing scheme that enables safe cultivation in Australia that meets Australia's international obligations and domestic interests, which include minimising the risk of diversion to illicit use. The obligations on Australia under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 are to control the cultivation, distribution and use of cannabis in a manner consistent with the uses provided for in the single convention. Some of the obligations are exclusive obligations placed on the Commonwealth as a signatory to the single convention. These exclusive obligations relate to the cultivation of cannabis and related matters.

The bill will include the introduction of a strong fit-and-proper-persons test and is designed to exclude organised crime elements from participation in this scheme. That again is a measure to ensure that we protect the public and prevent the risk of diversion and particularly prevent unscrupulous people from doing what unscrupulous people sometimes do—profit on the black market. That has been a very welcome move. This bill also strikes a balance between providing the treatments that patients so desperately need and ensuring that illicit use does not prosper.

It is also important to note that the requirements for cannabis cultivation under the single convention are quite different to those for opium poppies grown in Australia. They represent significantly different risks to public health from the diversion of crop. Australia must also report regularly to the International Narcotics Control Board, which oversees the implementation of the single convention on the quantities of narcotics produced, manufactured and used, with a view to preventing stockpiling of raw material beyond what is needed nationally and globally of such products. The amendments are also designed to ensure that the Commonwealth is able to fulfil this obligation.

The bill amends the manufacturing provisions under the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 again to ensure the integrity and security of the scheme, such as through the introduction of a fit-and-proper-persons test for applicants for a manufacturing licence. It also updates enforcement and penalty provisions to be consistent with modern regulatory practice. It requires applicants for a manufacturing licence for medicinal cannabis products to demonstrate a lawful supply pathway to patients—for instance, to a specific clinical trial or through supply that is allowed for under the provisions of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, such as the authorised prescriber scheme. It provides licence holders with a new right to request a variation or revocation of a condition imposed on their licence.

This bill does not override state and territory legislation dealing with criminal activities associated with the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis that occurs outside the regulatory scheme established by the amendments. At this stage the new medicinal cannabis scheme will be domestically focussed with a provision for exports to be addressed at a later date when the scheme has demonstrated that it is sufficiently secure and robust to meet international and domestic expectations surrounding security and safety.

Allowing Australia to cultivate legal cannabis crops for medicinal use under strict local controls strikes the balance between patient access, community protection and our international obligations. I know that there are many people in my electorate tonight who will be very pleased to see this bill pass this House. I commend the bill to the House.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. The bill provides a legal framework for the cultivation of cannabis in Australia. It will address the structural issues of the Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2014 introduced in the parliament in November 2014. The cultivation, production, manufacture, import, export, distribution, trade, possession, use and supply of cannabis and cannabis derived products are regulated by a number of Commonwealth laws, including the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. Importantly, it will allow people suffering from debilitating and painful health conditions to access, as early as next year, medicinal cannabis to relieve their suffering.

Access to medicinal cannabis will only be available when prescribed by a doctor or as part of a clinical trial. It will not be available over the counter. Non-medicinal use of cannabis will still be illegal, as will its cultivation. There are wild concerns about someone using this bill to have greater access to the street form of marijuana, weed or whatever other name you like to give the illicit substance. Those fears, or even anticipations, are wrongly founded. This is not the case with medicinal cannabis and access to it by people with very serious illnesses, often terminal illnesses, in Australia.

We have long experience in Australia, of course, of cultivating poppy for the production of medicinal substances. There is no known leakage of the production of legal poppy in Australia onto the illegal or illicit drug market. We have morphine being produced, not street heroin. So there should be no concern about the cultivation of the appropriate plants which will lead to medicinal cannabis production.

There are many stories of patients who have had to resort to buying cannabis illegally to relieve their suffering from serious illnesses in Australia. This bill will begin the process of ultimately enabling many people who have had to endure debilitating pain over long periods of time to have an opportunity to obtain a medical solution to relieve their pain.

There have been many champions for the cause of legalising medical cannabis. I am sure everyone will remember the visits to this parliament by Lucy Haslam, whose son Daniel died at the very young age of 25 last year. Having been diagnosed with bowel cancer, Daniel used cannabis to stave off crippling nausea that was a by-product of some of his chemotherapy treatments.

Professor David Penington AC, one of Australia's leading public intellectuals and health experts, has been an advocate for sensible drug policy in his roles as former chairman of the National AIDS Task Force, the Victorian Premier's Drug Advisory Council, and the Victorian government's Drug Policy Expert Committee. Professor Penington's other leadership roles have included those of professor of medicine and dean and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Melbourne. He, of course, has been a champion of the introduction of medicinal cannabis to Australia, and I pay great tribute to Professor Penington. He was persistent and calm. He met all of the challenges to the idea of having medicinal cannabis introduced into Australia. His intellectual force and expertise made a great difference in this debate.

In my own electorate of Murray, I have had constituents write to me or contact me, talking about the particular tragic circumstances of their loved ones' conditions, often terminal conditions, where they were dying in great pain and suffering and losing weight, without any capacity for other drugs to bring any relief. In one particular case, the wife of a sufferer knew that there was possible relief for him if she could find some medicinal cannabis, but being a woman in a country region—a woman who had never been in touch with any illicit substance markets or dealers in her life—she had no idea where to go to get this substance. Then there was the pressure of other relations saying to her, 'Why don't you find some cannabis for your husband?' You can imagine the distress of this woman and the lack of any relief for her husband, who died at a very young age. The additional stress for the wife from not being able to support her husband to the extent that she imagined might be possible brought a great deal of additional pain and suffering to her, not to mention her husband. If it had been only a year or two later, she might have been able to access this drug through a legal process. Her husband could have had the prescription. He would still have been in a terminal situation, but he would have died with less suffering. That, of course, is the right of everybody: to die with dignity.

We also have people suffering from incurable back pain, acute abdominal pain and serious constipation—the result of calcium build-up in the bloodstream. This is the story of another case. This person was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer called multiple myeloma. This condition eats at the bone marrow, the interior of bones, and naturally she then had severe osteoporosis, along with fractures and cancerous lesions on her spine and pelvis. Her immunity was poor because of this multiple myeloma, a cancer of the immune cells and blood plasma which effectively took over the immune system and all other blood cells. She was told there was no cure and she was going to die from this disease. The prognosis was extreme lethargy, bone lesions, permanent fractures, living in a wheelchair, horrific pain and kidney malfunction. This woman was taking chemotherapy and morphine, but she wanted to have some hope of living to a normal age. She was a qualified nurse and also a trained agricultural scientist. She considered that the cannabis she was able to access was an effective aid and a treatment for her cancer, severe pain and tremors, along with other conditions that she suffered. She now looks forward to not having to go through the trauma of finding a product illegally or illicitly and to people with her sort of condition being able to have the dignity of going to a medical practitioner, accessing a prescription and taking a substance which she and others can be more trusting of in terms of its content and its medicinal value.

There are so many cases like this. You can imagine a family with a young child who has many fits per day, with each round of fitting leading to potential or real brain damage, knowing that, if they could only access medicinal cannabis, the numbers of fits could be reduced and the risk of brain damage could be lessened. For us to withhold the capacity for that family to access medicinal cannabis, which has been found to help, to my mind is just not a sign of a compassionate society.

So this bill will allow, with the work of the states, a sense of real relief for those currently suffering and those who may suffer in the future. These are often not commonplace conditions, but they are conditions which other medications cannot treat; they cannot relieve the pain and suffering. In Australia, we can regulate very carefully. We know we have strong systems of pharmaceutical quality control. We can control the growing of substances which have the potential in other countries to leak onto illicit markets. We have the proof of the poppy growing, which has now moved from Tasmania to Victoria. We can grow these other medicinal plants just as securely as we do poppies.

I think we have taken possibly longer than we should have to come to this point in this House where we have this Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill put in place. I commend the states who have already made moves to trial various ways to grow these substances and to authorise cultivation for medicinal purposes. This will enliven the Commonwealth's obligations under article 23 of the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This legislation will override state and territory legislation for the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal use or related research. However, the Commonwealth will work with the states and territories in relation to existing manufacturing provisions. We will work in tandem, as we currently do with the poppy industry.

I want to particularly commend the work of Dr Richard Di Natale, the leader of the Greens, who, as a medical practitioner himself, has been aware of the great relief of some suffering with the use of these products. He has spent a lot of time researching the use of medicinal cannabis in other countries. He has been tireless in carefully and painstakingly ensuring that Australia will have best practice when it comes to regulation and legislation. I want to congratulate Dr Richard Di Natale for the work he has done. I have been proud to co-sponsor the bill, which was initially introduced into the Senate in relation to this issue, and to stand beside him and argue that Australia is a compassionate society. We should not let false rumours and fears overtake what can be and should be the compassionate response to people who are often in last stages of a terminal illness which has caused them great pain and suffering. This substance may also become an assistance to those suffering from multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease; we keep finding other conditions that medicinal cannabis can assist with. Who knows how else this substance might be used to relieve suffering in the human condition in the future.

So I commend this bill to the House. I hope that some of the new crops of medicinal cannabis are grown in northern Victoria. Mr McCormack, are you still the member for Riverina?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it is still the Riverina.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hope they are also grown in the member for Riverina's electorate because he is always looking, I am sure, for crops that can be grown well in his area. We have had trials close to my electorate of Murray—in fact, some in Murray—and I am pleased to say those trials have gone well. We will have substantial penalties for offences involving breaches of any conditions or undertaking unauthorised activities in relation to this substance, as with so many under other pharmaceuticals.

May there be great relief for many sufferers today when they realise that it will not be long before they can legally obtain either Australian produced products or imported products. Ensuring that we relieve suffering when we can is what we are about in Australia. I commend the bill to the House.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016. I have spoken many times of my concern for Australians suffering from chronic pain and other severe medical conditions. Only last week, I met Associate Professor Richard Chye, a palliative care physician from St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, who is involved in the New South Wales clinical trials for medicinal cannabis. He described some of those trials to me and explained very well that for somebody in palliative care—and I understand that the indications for medicinal cannabis are not only going to be palliative care—their biggest fear is pain and distress at the end of their life. While accepting that life is coming to an end and dealing with everything that that brings, the thought of unbearable pain and the associated indignity that goes with it is often too much for them to cope with. This very kind, gentle man explained to me, as I am sure he does to many of his patients, that, if that pain can be relieved, then the opportunity for a person to confront death in a meaningful way is made so much easier.

The trials that are happening right now are quite exciting. The ways that different quantities of both the cannabinoid and the THC in cannabis are combined and the effect that they produce on different individuals are really an area of exciting medical research. I said, when we introduced this bill, that we will lead the world in this. With our world-class regulator, the TGA, at the centre of what we are doing, Australia will, indeed, lead the world.

These amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act will, for the first time, provide a source of legally grown cannabis for the manufacture of suitable medicinal cannabis products in Australia. It is recognised that, while there are existing mechanisms by which medicinal cannabis from overseas can be accessed under Australian law, the problem is that limited supplies and export barriers in other countries have made this difficult. Under this scheme, a patient with a valid prescription can possess and use a medicinal cannabis product manufactured from cannabis plants legally cultivated in Australia where the supply is appropriately authorised under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and relevant state and territory legislation. Further, my department has proposed down-scheduling cannabis for therapeutic uses to schedule 8, the poisons schedule, which would also simplify arrangements around the legal possession of medicinal cannabis and address some of the issues raised earlier by the member for Fremantle.

The decision to treat any condition with a medicine is one that should be made in consultation with a medical professional who has weighed up the available medical and scientific evidence to determine if there is a likely benefit for their patient and whether that benefit outweighs the risks. The government's model puts the medical professional at the centre of clinical decision making, where they should be. This bill will allow medicinal cannabis products that are manufactured in Australia to be supplied for the purposes of clinical trials or to be prescribed for patients with particular conditions by medical practitioners authorised to do so by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The bill also enables research—in particular, clinical trials—to expand the evidence base so that more products could potentially be approved through the medicines registration processes under the Therapeutic Goods Act, provided they meet efficacy, safety and quality standards required for prescription medicines. As that evidence base expands, it is possible that more patients will be prescribed medicinal cannabis products if their doctor considers it appropriate.

More recently, I have had discussions with the Greens and Labor about creating an advisory council to provide expert, balanced and timely advice to government on the implementation of these amendments and the development of this scheme in Australia. This is a further demonstration of our ongoing bipartisan approach and our keenness to ensure there are no unnecessary delays to the passage of this legislation or its implementation. I envisage this would be a time-limited group that will report to government and involve experts from, but not limited to, the medical profession and pharmacology, biotechnology and patient groups.

The required amendments to the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967 significantly affected both existing Commonwealth legislation and state and territory legislation. I provided exposure drafts to state and territory jurisdictions for comment in December 2015 and January 2016. In addition, jurisdictions met face to face on two occasions and participated in several national teleconferences to discuss specific issues. We received feedback and contributions on a range of issues, which greatly contributed in developing this robust legislative framework. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our state and territory counterparts for their overall support and contribution to this legislation.

I have previously acknowledged Lucy Haslam, who has done an amazing job in advocating for change. However, I also acknowledge that there are many more advocates and everyday Australians who have played a tremendous and tireless role in bringing this important issue to the attention of the nation. I must acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues from across the political spectrum who have come together in this place to work in a completely bipartisan fashion to ensure we are able to stand here on this historic day.

Again, we are, I believe, the only jurisdiction in the world that will have the right regulatory framework, the right authorisations and the integrity that we need for a system that is already producing clinical trials, whether it be for palliative care, whether it be for everyday pain management or whether it be for children with epilepsy—all of the examples we have heard during the course of this debate—products thoroughly tested, thoroughly trialled and able to be on our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

I know for many there have been so many frustrations along the way and even times when they felt progress was not being made. However, today's outcome is a demonstration of this parliament's commitment to not only ensure we get access to a safe, legal and reliable supply of medicinal cannabis products for Australian patients but also that we get it right. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.