David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Medicinal Cannabis Legislation Amendment (Securing Patient Access) Bill 2017, and I thank Senator Di Natale for introducing it. The bill will allow medicinal cannabis to be imported for terminally ill patients through category A of the Special Access Scheme. It can already be imported for other purposes, such as for general patients, under category B of the scheme. This would remove all doubt that importers of medicinal cannabis can import medicinal cannabis for the terminally ill under category A and not just for category B patients. The bill also allows the government to authorise the manufacture of medicinal cannabis in Australia for terminally ill category A patients. This makes it clear that there's nothing in the law stopping the terminally ill from accessing domestically manufactured medicinal cannabis under the existing category A arrangements, so there would be no reason for the government to force terminally ill patients onto the slow road to pain relief that general patients are suffering along—the category B route.

The government loves generic arrangements like the category B arrangement. Its plan is for all patients to get access to medicinal cannabis in this way in a timely and low-stress manner. But the terminally ill patients of Australia don't live in the plans of the government; they live in reality—a reality in which the government's generic arrangements for access to medicinal cannabis are murderously slow. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the government and its health department officials have blood on their hands. Through their lack of urgency, through their comfort in slow bureaucratic processes that might eventually lead to access, once the working groups have met and written their reports, and through their unwillingness to change course once it became clear that these processes weren't working, they are responsible for terrible, unnecessary suffering and very likely a number of premature deaths.

The Liberal Democrats saw this coming. We supported the government's legislation, establishing a process to legalise medicinal marijuana. But we warned that the maintenance of a ban on recreational cannabis would ensure that the regime for medicinal cannabis would be a red-tape minefield for patients, and so it has come to pass. Recreational cannabis is not something I recommend, but it should be a matter of choice for adults. It's already a choice in a number of countries, including eight states in America. In any case, recreational cannabis use is less harmful than both alcohol and tobacco, according to bodies such as the UK's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. The Liberal Democrats are the only party in this parliament that supports legalising the supply, distribution, possession and use of cannabis, whether for medicinal or recreational purposes. This approach would not only let people pursue their own lifestyle choices and allow a better use of scarce police resources but also, by cutting the red tape surrounding the supply of medicinal cannabis, be the surest way to relieving suffering in Australia.

It is an unfortunate characteristic of Australia that we ignore the experience of the rest of the world and continue to rely on policies of prohibition. Cannabis, e-cigarettes and online gambling are three current examples, and yet prohibition will be no more successful than it ever has been. It's time we got our heads out of the sand. I commend this bill as a means to relieving suffering, but I commend even more the Liberal Democrats' policy of legalising cannabis regardless of its use.