Australian lawmakers are anticipated to approve landmark legislation in the coming months allowing for the production and use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes.
The legislation, which is backed by Australia’s Prime Minister, Health Minister, and leading political parties, amends national drug laws to permit for the licensed cultivation and distribution of medicinal cannabis.
The move by Parliament follows recent efforts by several Australian territories to provide patients participating in clinical trials with access to the plant.
“This government understands that there are some Australians suffering from severe conditions for which cannabis may have applications,” Health Minister Sussan Ley told Parliament this week. “[W]e want to enable access to the most effective medical treatments available.”
She added, “Allowing controlled cultivation locally will provide the critical missing piece for a sustainable legal supply of safe medicinal cannabis products for Australian patients in the future.”
To date, only Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands federally license private growers to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients. Colombia, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico are also expected to begin licensing medical marijuana manufacturing in the near future.
In 2013, Uruguay officials approved legislation authorizing the retail production and sale of cannabis to those age 18 and older. Consumers in that country are anticipated to be able to begin purchasing cannabis at state-licensed pharmacies by mid-2016.
Part 1 of long comment:
Way to go Australia! If the Republicans win upcoming elections I don’t think it will happen here, in the Land of the Free, anytime soon. Will America be one of the last nations in the world to finally end the war against cannabis?
I copied the paragraph below from this webpage:
http://nmpoliticalreport.com/31464/marijuana-legalization-clears-first-hurdle-nmleg/
“The Senate Rules Committee initially voted against a do-pass motion, which would send the proposed constitutional amendment to the Senate Judiciary Committee with a recommendation to pass. The vote was on party lines with Democrats in favor and Republicans against; there were an equal number of each in the committee Wednesday.”
It would seem to validate the belief I formed in previous years that the Republican party is in favor of more drug war and wants cannabis users to continue being locked up and their voting rights taken away. The Democratic party seems to be the more progressive party and understands the great harms caused by ruining the lives of millions of Americans for their choice to use cannabis.
We will witness the death of the Republican Party if they push for the continuance of cannabis prohibition. This is a national debate on status quo, which benefits the elite alone, or a radical change to shake the system up.
Part 2 of long comment:
The Republicans like to brand themselves as being conservative. What does that mean exactly? It would seem that means maintaining the status quo like continuing the idiotic war against cannabis consumers and backing big pharma, private prisons, wallstreet, and etc. They ignore the will of the majority of Americans that, according to all of the latest legalization polls, want cannabis to be legalized and regulated. The GOP is a ridiculous group of people who, like the Taliban and the Nazi’s, believe they are right and everyone else is wrong and will punish you if you don’t do what they try to force upon you.
It is sad that the darling of the Democratic Establishment, Hilary Clinton, thinks more like a Republican when it comes to cannabis. The best she offers on the subject is that maybe she’ll move cannabis to schedule 2 on the Controlled Substances list after she watches the states that have legalized for a while longer (maybe years). She thinks this way in spite of the fact that her husband Bill and President Obama used it and, obviously, it didn’t do to them any of the things that the prohibitionist propaganda has stated. I mean, how much more successful can you get than being the President of the United States? Cannabis does not make you stupid or lazy! Laws against cannabis however can completely ruin countless lives.
It really seems that we all need to cast our vote for the only person who has the courage and intelligence to do the right thing: Mr. Bernie Sanders! I almost don’t care whatever else he does as long as he gets this right. After almost 100 years of draconian unjust laws against cannabis consumers, let’s fix this and then get on with other business.
I can totally agree with this comment.It is so true.
Australia already grows the majority of the opium used in pharmaceutical medicines so growing “the dangerous narcotic” marijuana should be no problem to them. All the controls and safeguards that everyone seems to be worrying about in other countries will already be there and be tried and tested.
In fact Australia could easily supply a majority of the world’s medical cannabis given the huge amounts of land and sunshine they have. Illegally cultivated Australian cannabis has always had a reputation for being very good quality and plentiful so we know the climate is right.
What the hell is the United States waiting for? We ought to be sending someone–an official government employee or representative–to meet with the UN Secretary General along with Trudeau. Pena-Nieto or one of his government’s representatives must go along, too. Then you’ve got a whole continent that wants to legalize cannabis, and wants the UN to get out of the way of the cannabis community worldwide. Other countries (China) will probably be allowed to continue executing people for drug crimes.
Excerpt from VICE
“Trudeau is scheduled to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday in Ottawa, although the agenda is unclear.”
https://news.vice.com/article/canada-really-wants-to-legalize-weed-but-first-it-needs-to-deal-with-the-un
Isn’t anybody going to invite the Caribbean and South American countries’ representatives? Then you have two continents?
Australian and Western Europe invited to the UN party? Isn’t that many continents enough for the UN, for their office workers in Vienna?
UN huh.
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/182/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=19100
Is the US Surgeon General going to have his review in time to go to the UN in concert with Trudeau or Trudeau’s emissary, along with tons of other emissaries from other countries that want the UN to change its prohibitionist language?
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2015/12/surgeon-general-announces-review-of-federal-drug-policies/
Legalization is happening. If the UN doesn’t get the hell out of the way they’re just going to unveil themselves as anachronistic and useless.
Is it really going to take international competition to end cannabis prohibition? Do Americans have to elect its first socialist president in order to obtain respect between patients and their caregivers? Will ignorant administrators continue to block natural medications for the profit taking of big pharma?