Yahoo – AFP, Daniel DE CARTERET, July 12, 2017
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| Recreational marijuana use is illegal in Australia but laws were passed last year permitting medical use, with a dozen licences since issued for a range of uses including cultivation and manufacturing (AFP Photo/Saeed KHAN) |
Melbourne
(AFP) - At a secret location in Australia's southeast, Peter Crook delicately
tends to a two-month-old cannabis cutting.
Barely knee
high, it is one of about 50 government-sanctioned "mother plants" to
be cloned for future generations of crops for the country's fledgling medicinal
marijuana industry.
"I
think we'll see Australia punch above its weight, both in agriculture research
as well as medical technology," says Crook, the chief executive of Cann
Group Limited, the firm granted Australia's first commercial grower's licence.
"As
different conditions come online we are going to see the market grow
rapidly."
Following
Canada, Israel, and more than half the US states, who through varying
approaches have legalised medicinal marijuana, Australia has signalled its
intention for a homegrown industry.
But a
patchwork of regulations that guard access for many desperate patients, and a
lack of confidence among doctors in prescribing the drug, are acting as
impediments.
While
recreational marijuana use remains illegal in Australia laws passed last year
permit medical use, with a dozen licences since issued, ranging from
cultivation and research to manufacturing.
At least 10
sector-related firms have listed on Australia's stock exchange, while tens of
millions of dollars has been pledged for clinical trials investigating
treatment for conditions including epilepsy and relief for the terminally ill.
Driven by a
growing recognition of treatment for chronic pain, arthritis and migraines, the
global market is estimated to reach US$55.8 billion by 2025 with the US, Canada
and Israel leading the way, US-based analyst Grand View Research says.
'Conservative government'
But unlike
those markets, which have liberal patient-access, Australia has a "very
conservative government" that wants a regulatory framework in place up
front, says Adam Miller, founder of medical cannabis start-up BuddingTech.
"They're
doing things by the book so that when they have the evidence required to
satisfy not only Australia's but other countries' governments, and medical
bodies, they will be able to export those products to those countries," he
added.
Last year,
researchers at the University of Sydney estimated a legal domestic medical
market would initially be worth more than Aus$100 million (US$75 million) a
year.
Miller, who
was drawn to the industry after researching alternatives for his seriously-ill
mother, says unlocking the local market requires easing patient access and
educating doctors.
But not at
the expense of the pharmaceutical industry's integrity.
"Any
new products that are going to be distributed to a large number of patients
need to go through the same mechanism that any other drug would go through, and
cannabis is no different," he says.
 |
Five-year-old
Arielle Harding, who had her first epileptic seizure at 15 months,
now shows
few signs of her condition after her parents started giving her small
doses of
a non-psychoactive marijuana derivative (AFP Photo/Peter PARKS)
|
Doctors
acknowledge the plant's potential in palliative care, epilepsy and spasticity
but remain guarded in its broader use, citing limited scientific proof.
"It’s
been around since pre-history and if it was the panacea for a whole range of
medical conditions it was claimed to be by some advocates, then we would have
been using it for a long period of time,” says Australian Medical Association
president Michael Gannon.
'Pretty
angry pretty quickly'
But for
many, change is too slow.
Arielle
Harding had her first epileptic seizure at 15-months-old. Suffering from about
100 a day, treatment with traditional drugs made things worse.
Her
desperate parents recently tried small doses of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a
non-psychoactive marijuana derivative in liquid form and Arielle, now five,
shows few signs of her condition.
"At
first we were just overjoyed that that had happened but you also find that you
get pretty angry pretty quickly, when you realise that we could have had this
three years ago and what a difference that would that have made," her
father Tim recalls.
The legal
CBD oil he purchases is not an elixir, but like thousands seeking cannabis
treatment in Australia, Harding says he is unable to explore the drug further
for fear of breaking complicated laws.
A 2015 Roy
Morgan poll found more than 90 percent of Australians support legalising
marijuana for the seriously ill, but advocates say it struggles for recognition
because of its "demonised" past.
"It is
really important to realise that you can get the medicinal benefits from
cannabinoids without necessarily being intoxicated," says Iain McGregor,
academic director at the University of Sydney's cannabis research hub.
"We
can actually pull apart the intoxicating recreational effects from the therapeutic
effects, and again that allows doctors to prescribe with more confidence if it
is a non-intoxicating cannabinoid."
As
attitudes change, encouraging more research, McGregor is optimistic about the
plant's potential "to produce incredible therapeutics for a whole range of
diseases that are currently very difficult to treat".
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