Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 106 standing in my name for today, relating to medicinal cannabis oil.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) on 19 April 2018, a meeting of the United States' Food and Drug Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drug Advisory Committee was informed that patients with drug resistant Lennox-Gestaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome (DS) responded to cannabidiol oil in an oral form at 10-20mg/kg/day with statistically significant reductions in convulsive seizure frequency, and that the potential risks were manageable,

(ii) on 25 June 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration approved cannabidiol oral solution for patients aged 2 years and older for the treatment of severe and rare types of epilepsy such as LGS and DS,

(iii) parents of children with LGS or DS in Australia can obtain a prescription for cannabidiol oil through the Special Access Scheme but must pay the full cost of approximately $1,500 per month, and

(iv) the cost of cannabidiol oil is so high that some people cannot afford this treatment, and others are placed under huge financial stress in what is already a distressing situation; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to ensure affordable access to cannabidiol oil for patients with LGS and DS.