Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last year I was invited—and took pleasure in accepting the invitation—to attend a forum in St Marys on medicinal cannabis. Around 50 people attended to advocate for changes to legislation in this area.

Particularly, I must acknowledge Hannah Rubenach from St Marys, who organised the meeting and also spoke of the suffering of her brother, who developed toxicity to pharmaceutical anticonvulsants after relying on them from age five to age 18. Cannabis oil has provided a significant reduction of the seizures that her brother, Tim, had been suffering. He was suffering at least 10 severe tonic-clonic seizures and thousands of complex partial seizures each week. Now he is going up to 24 days between seizures since using the medicinal cannabis. In addition, on some days Tim is able to walk without assistance, feed himself, have better body temperature regulation, indicate when he is in pain, do jigsaw puzzles and artwork, et cetera. He is able to watch a DVD right through for the first time in his life and to understand the storyline, no longer having continual complex partial seizures that have interrupted his life. He has some control over his challenging behaviours and at times can understand the consequences of those behaviours. This is a significant health and wellbeing outcome of medicinal cannabis for those who are suffering in our communities.

The Turnbull government's historic legislation is indeed the missing piece for Australian patients and their doctors to access a safe, legal and reliable supply of medicinal cannabis products for the management of painful and chronic conditions. While there are existing mechanisms by which medicinal cannabis from overseas can be accessed, the problem has been limited supply and export barriers in some of those countries. For the first time, we will be able to produce these products here in Australia. This will be very much welcomed by many people around the country.

It does not, however, resolve the issue around industrial hemp, which is still the subject of a law and order study of the food forum. I look forward to that study being completed and the benefits that I think will flow to many parts of Australia where farmers are going to be able to also produce industrial hemp—as opposed to medicinal cannabis—for human consumption in this country.