Labor Senators for Tasmania, Catryna Bilyk and Anne Urquhart, said the Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2014 could provide a safe and reliable regime for the cultivation, production and use of cannabis for medical purposes.
Senators Bilyk and Urquhart said they are looking forward to the outcome of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the bill after a three day series of public hearings in Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.
The Committee has heard evidence of the successful regulated use of cannabis for medical purposes in other countries, as well as users who have benefited from it in Australia.
Senator Bilyk, a member of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said the evidence given to the inquiry on a range of legal and medical issues showed that—properly regulated—cannabis could be a safe, effective and affordable form of medical treatment for thousands of Australians.
“Senator Urquhart and I are also interested in the economic benefits of medicinal cannabis, and while we welcome the decision of the New South Wales Government to proceed with a clinical trial, it is disappointing that the Liberal Government in our home state of Tasmania did not move faster on this,” Senator Bilyk said.
“You only have to look to Tasmania’s poppy industry to see that medicinal cannabis could also be a great job creator for Tasmania.”
Senator Urquhart, who is a co-sponsor of the bill and also attended the hearing in Sydney on Tuesday, said witnesses to the inquiry were broadly supportive of the bill.
“We have heard from a wide range of witnesses including experts in the fields of research, law and health. The majority of witnesses were broadly supportive of the approach of setting up a Federal Regulator.
“We’ve also heard heartbreaking real-life stories from parents who could be branded criminals under current law for their compassionate decision to help secure medicinal cannabis to help their sick children.
“The committee also heard from some witnesses that the issue needs to be solved at a federal level to avoid a wide range of contradictory regulatory regimes across the country.”
Senators Bilyk and Urquhart said while they welcomed the move by Tasmania Police to exercise discretion in pursuing charges against terminally ill people using cannabis, a system of regulation would give medicinal users greater certainty that they would not fall foul of the law for seeking treatment.
SENATOR CATRYNA BILYK DEPUTY OPPOSITION WHIP IN THE SENATE SENATOR FOR TASMANIA SENATOR ANNE URQUHART DEPUTY OPPOSITION WHIP IN THE SENATE SENATOR FOR TASMANIA
