However, due to vague concerns over long term use, the report recommends access to legal medical cannabis only for people with terminal illnesses or AIDS. These people will have legal indemnity from prosecution for the possession of 15gm of herbal cannabis.

A nominated carer will also be covered but only for 15gm total. To gain this concession the patient and carer must provide photo ID to the police station. There is no provision for cultivation or any form of legal supply.

If the intention of the parliamentary committee was to demonstrate their commitment, as dedicated public servants and caring citizens, to best practice in social policy, then they have failed very badly in that endeavour. For a medical cannabis patient with a serious illness 15gm would last about five days, or less if it is of inferior quality.

Therefore, the patient or their carer would have to interact with the criminal underworld more than weekly, to obtain an exorbitantly expensive product of questionable quality. It would make far more sense for the patient to have access to at least 300gm, to assure constant supply of reasonable quality, as well as substantial unit price reduction. Better still, if this were supplied by a registered grower with expertise in the production of medical grade, as opposed to black market cannabis.

By recognising the efficacy of and great need for medical cannabis, but creating no legal supply, the committee has handed criminals the right to enrich themselves at the expense of the sick and dying. At the glacial pace of the NSW government, these recommendations will not be responded to, let alone acted upon, until the end of the year.

After having found that the medical use of cannabis is capable of relieving currently unrelieved pain and suffering, delaying action to supply such cannabis amounts to torture of a most vulnerable section of the community.

The committee gave unreserved support for the development of pharmaceutical products based on cannabis, but noted that this could be many years away. This is cold comfort for people currently afflicted.

GW Pharmaceuticals have produced a cannabis aerosol spray, but its licensing is restricted and its cost prohibitive. Many patients and their carers feel that after decades of irrational opposition to cannabis medicines the pharmaceutical companies should not be handed a carte blanche to create inflated profits at their expense.

The committee entirely failed to view Australia’s backward position in the context of advances in cannabis policy elsewhere. Under new legislation around the world, hundreds of millions of people now have access to safe, effective, affordable medicine as herbal or infused products, but none currently in Australia.

The greatest failing of the committee was to restrict the scope of the medical uses of cannabis to terminal illness. Evidence was given of Crohn’s disease sufferers, for years resistant to many treatments, finding relief within days of starting cannabis therapy.

Mr Tony Bower outlined his use of tincture for the control of intractable epilepsy in Dravet’s syndrome, where the medicine is literally life saving, but these patients are to be denied benefit under the committee’s findings, with no credible explanation from the parliamentarians who are supposed to represent their interests.

Finally, despite a direct request, the committee entirely failed to take up the unique issue of cannabidiol (CBD). This is a non-psychotropic cannabinoid which blocks the psychotropic effects of THC, while exhibiting superior medical qualities as a potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-neoplastic agent. CBD is amongst the least toxic of pharmaceutically active agents with an impeccable safety record.

It has been demonstrated to control psychotic episodes as effectively as modern agents, but is free of the problematic side effects. Despite the disappointment felt over this current betrayal medical cannabis patients and their activist carers will continue their efforts to rationalise policy to make safe, effective medicines available to all those in need.

Medical Cannabis – cruel hoax or twenty-first century miracle?

It is now almost eighty years since the introduction of the Marijuana Transfer Tax Act. With the partial relaxing of the prohibition in recent years, research has produced some remarkable findings. For the relief of spasm and pain cannabis has shown a safe and reliable effect, but it is in the area of cancer medicine that cannabis shines.

Medical authorities around the world conducted surveys of cannabis smokers, expecting to find smoking cannabis caused cancer in an analogous manner to tobacco use. To their surprise cannabis users had reduced rates of cancer. Initially, these findings were suppressed but medical scientists then demonstrated the mechanism by which the cannabinoids exert this effect, through the process of apoptosis.

Apoptosis is a unique physiological form of cell death, in which the affected cell actively extrudes its intracellular fluid, with the remnants engulfed by immune cells. It is a precisely targeted process unlike necrosis, which affects all adjacent tissue, causing inflammation.

Further, the cannabinoids induce tumour specific apoptosis across a wide range of tumour types. This can be convincingly demonstrated in tissue culture and has been confirmed in animal models, both in tumour susceptible animals and with tumour implants in normal animals. Additionally, there have been numerous anecdotal reports of people being healed of extensive cancer, using concentrated hemp oil. Rick Simpson has done much to publicise this.

The senate inquiry into the medical uses of cannabis is due to report on 14th May. During testimony there I described a breast cancer sufferer, having her third relapse with tumour invading the nerves of her arm, causing paralysis and disabling neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain results from injury to nerves and responds poorly to opioid drugs.

Cannabis has long been recognised as excellent for this type of pain so Rick Simpson oil was provided. At that time I was aware of the internet reports of cures, but they seemed too good to be true. The patient’s response was dramatic and she remains well a year later. Similar cases are being reported and documented.

Most cannabis used to prepare hemp oil has been bred to maximise THC and minimise cannabidiol (CBD), as CBD inhibits the psychotropic effect of THC. However, CBD offers some unique advantages in cancer medicine.

THC and CBD are equally potent in inducing apoptosis, but whereas 50mg of THC is a substantial dose with significant inebriation, CBD can be given at gram doses without noticeable effect on the patient, but with an accelerated anti-tumour effect.

Licensed hemp crops could be a ready source of medicinal CBD.

CBD is not illegal by itself and is not even listed in the poisons schedule. However, as the hemp crops have trace amounts of THC, this will appear in the extract, which will then be deemed to be a prohibited drug, despite having absolutely no abuse potential and exceptional medical value.

The NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has been presented with a formal request to exempt CBD rich hemp oil from prohibition, to facilitate pilot studies and then larger scale testing.

My strong position is that hemp extracts should be treated as herbal products, subject to quality control, but not impacted by the allopathic drug evaluation system. The incidence of cancer is generally increasing, as the complex contamination of soil, water and air increases.

As Fukushima continues to spew plumes of radiation, contaminating the northern Pacific and beyond, this cancer epidemic will only get worse. This article is a plea for your support. CBD could be a greater game changer in medicine than penicillin was. Current chemotherapeutic drugs cost tens of thousands of dollars a month and generally confer little survival advantage and major toxicity.

CBD therapy can save countless billions of public money and more importantly immeasurable pain, suffering and loss of life. I urge you to contact Minister Skinner’s office and express support for this amendment. The life you save may be your own or your family and friends.

Dr Andrew Katelaris

The HEMP Party of Australia is grateful and cautiously optimistic about the release of the Final Report of the NSW upper house inquiry into medicinal cannabis use.

“Of course we are disappointed that the committee seeks to allow access to such a limited group of patients, but it’s a start and we have no doubt that in three years time when this initiative is reviewed it will be all positive,’ said President Michael Balderstone.

“And it has put the debate squarely on the table again which can only help educate people and dispel some of the ignorance and fear that surrounds the use of cannabis.”

“Under the proposed new regime only those who qualify to be on the ‘authorised cannabis patients and carers’ list will be allowed access to cannabis as a medicine. So the vast majority of those who are currently self-medicating illegally will continue to be labelled criminals. While the findings of the committee do represent a step forward, it is a very tiny step along a very long path that inevitably must be traversed.”

“If the NSW Parliament follows the recommendations it will likely only benefit a tiny fraction of the States cannabis users so we are not dealing with the real elephant in the room. Meanwhile we remain nearly twenty years behind America who first legalised medical cannabis in 1996 and now has half the country dispensing to patients. We could learn a lot from them.”

“In the executive summary the committee notes that cannabis is ‘an effective treatment for some medical conditions’. It then goes on to note that 69% of Aussies support legislation to allow the medical use of cannabis.

We think if patients are authorised by a doctor ninety percent of Australians would support medical cannabis use no longer being a criminal offence. It is in truth a health issue and far better doctors making these decisions rather than police and politicians who are surely not the drug experts!”

“Meanwhile our politicians have to consider the recommendations and we urge all NSW medical cannabis users to contact their local Parliamentarian and explain to them how they benefit from their choice of medicine, how much their medication costs them on the black market, and how being a criminal for their choice of medicine has affected their life.”

Michael Balderstone: further info on 02 66890326 or a/h 02 66897525

NSW Inquiry: Final Report, The use of cannabis for medical purposes.
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/FDB7842246A5AB71CA257B6C0002F09B

Since Today Tonight’s Queensland recent showing of Tony Bowers cannabis tincture stopping almost immediately the epileptic fits of a 7 year old girl who had been having fits since she was 6 weeks old, Tony and the Nimbin HEMP Embassy have been inundated with people trying to access the medicine.

“It’s absolutely appalling that we have to explain to people that, ‘sorry we cannot help you’ the Mullaway medical crop was destroyed by police last year”, said a frustrated President of the Embassy, Michael Balderstone.

“We are also discovering that the wider Nimbin community, which has been attracting medical cannabis users for decades, has many epileptic sufferers because in one way or another they have discovered that cannabis prevents them fitting without the side effects of other drugs.”

“How tragic does it have to get before politicians will act on this? We urge everyone to contact their local Politicians to enlighten them on what we are missing out on. The word is spreading fast out there on the internet about cannabis’s healing properties since it has become legal across so much of America. Hundreds of cancer sufferers also are phoning the Embassy wanting cannabis medicine.”

Tony Bower says the next time he will be in Nimbin will be the annual MardiGrass cannabis law reform rally and gathering on the weekend of May 4 and 5, so long as he is not locked up when he goes to court on April 23rd in Kempsey for his crop, which had every plant labelled with a patients number.

Mullaway on Today Tonight http://youtu.be/SHs4BqL1MUw

Mullaway’s Medical Cannabis http://mullawaysmedicalcannabis.com.au

Tony Bower 02 65661525

Nimbin HEMP Embassy www.hempembassy.net

Michael Balderstone 02 66890326

A/H 02 66897525

For the 2013 MardiGrass program see www.nimbinmardigrass.com

PLEASE WRITE TO NSW SENATE INQUIRY SAYS HEMP EMBASSY

Nimbin HEMP Embassy is urging medicinal cannabis users and their friends to write to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Medical cannabis.

“This is the last week left to make a submission, the closing date is next Friday Feb 15th,” says President Michael Balderstone.

“We are more than happy to pass on submissions or we have been assured they can be sent anonymously. Politicians it seems, as well as us, understand the paranoia prohibition causes.”

“This is a rare chance to get heard, or at least read. Tell them your story. How cannabis helps you and how prohibition affects you.”

“Perhaps this is the first step in Australia reviewing the cannabis laws and the reefer madness that still seems to grip so many of our decision makers. Mind you, to make any change, they’ll have to put up with Big Pharma, the alcohol industry, the Church and the Police, to name a few, who have major vested interests in not changing the law.”

“On the other hand, there are dozens of countries now finally agreeing medical cannabis is “entirely appropriate”, as President Obama said, and he was talking from experience!”

“Studies in American States where medical cannabis is approved have shown significant drops in suicide rates, as well as less alcohol abuse and car accidents. There are untold benefits to be had, including huge health savings. If we can only get medical cannabis started the public’s fears will drop away as they have in America.”

How to lodge a submission

http://australianhempparty.com/1148/inquiry-medical-cannabis

When I was 13 a friend at school bought a ‘stick’ because he was going to a party on the coming Saturday night. When he showed me, I took the foil and peeled it back to see what lay within.

I had no desire to try it but there was some fascination going on.

I knew nothing about cannabis whatsoever. I had been told it was bad by the well meaning drug education program that our poor grade 6 teacher was forced to put us through but somehow I didn’t quite believe it.

I didn’t really understand what I had been told about it but I certainly wasn’t scared.

I remember it very clearly, it was a significant moment in my life. It was the first time I laid my eyes on cannabis. It wasn’t particularly nice bud, very stalky and dry, a bit of sugar but not a lot… and a seed. The excitement was instant. “Can I have the seed?” was out of my mouth in 0.02 seconds. My very surprised friend looked at me and said “ok”. That was it, I was a grower, although I didn’t realise it at the time.

I put the seed in a pot of soil and watered it a little bit every day. After a week of watching the soil a little sprout appeared. In my dim bedroom it stretched tall reaching for the light and soon fell over. I knew it needed light, we’d done ‘photosynthesis’ in Science at school that year, so I put my desk lamp over the top of it and waited.

I would check on it every half hour and water it just a little bit every hour or two, I cared for that seedling like it was my child. After a few days I could see that it was getting stronger, my TLC was paying off. It made me happy.

When the plant was about six weeks old my grandmother found it. She told my dad. I knew it was bad so I lied, “I just dug it up out of the garden, I didn’t know what it was.” “Oh yes, they come up in my garden all the time” said Grandma who lived on the northern NSW coast. Oh man, I couldn’t wait til our next trip to Grandmas…

Curiously, Dad left the plant in my room. I took it down to the park which our house backed onto and dug a hole in a spot that was hidden behind some clumps of grass growing on the hill. I dug a little trench to catch the rain as it ran down the slope and I gently planted my baby in the soil and watered it in.

Over summer I took bottles of water to it every day, it was so dry on the slope, sometimes I went 3 and 4 times in the day. I would just sit down and be next to it. It gave me a sense of calm and safety. I had a purpose, without my attention the plant would not survive. Sometimes I sat there for hours.

Flowers started to develop around about the time school went back, I still had another whole year before I would be in year 11 and be able to choose Biology as a subject. Each day after school I went straight down to the park and sat with the plant and watched it grow. The buds developed, they were small and sparse. The plant looked like the ditch weed in “Reefer Madness”, I didn’t know what fertiliser was. I didn’t care, to me it was beautiful. I loved that plant.

I had no idea what you were supposed to do with it. I didn’t know what part was used or how. I didn’t even know to pick it and besides, it was my baby. I don’t think I could have picked it. So I just kept on watching as Autumn came and the buds stretched right out. In June it started to turn brown and I felt sad but I knew it was an ‘annual’ and wasn’t supposed to last more than one season, so I felt I had done my job. It had gone from seed right through it’s whole cycle and flowered. It had achieved its purpose and had a full life, I was a good dad.

As I pondered these thoughts while I sat with my poor brown shriveled plant something caught my eye. It was dark and shiny. A seed, just about to drop from my plant. I nearly cried with happiness. Even though I didn’t consume a single speck of it, cannabis got me through a pretty tough year. Life wasn’t fun at home, my only happiness was in helping that plant grow.

In spring I planted the seed in a pot and started the process again. On New Years Eve a couple of my friends pulled the plant out and put it on the fire. They told me about it just in time for me to see the last remains turning to ash. I was devastated. The oppression had begun. My friends were well meaning. They thought I was about to turn into a prostitute and die of brain damage.

Shortly after that I began to cut my legs with broken glass. Not badly enough to need stitches but enough to bleed a lot and leave long skinny scabs which I could pick and peel.

When I was 16 another friend at school had some weed given to him. We wagged the day and smoked it in his mothers kitchen. I couldn’t get to the end of a sentence without forgetting what I was talking about. My mind was going in all sorts of crazy directions and I loved it, it felt great. Nearly 3 years after I grew my first plant I got stoned for the first time.

After another two really destructive years at home I left, school was over, I was gone. I smoked a lot. I was an extremely angry young man. If someone barked I exploded. Cannabis kept me sane, well closer to sane than no cannabis. It allowed me to go through that really difficult time in my life without hitting someone.

At 26 I was put on antidepressants, they just numbed me. I would zone out and stare straight through people like a zombie, some of my friends began to disappear because it freaked them out. So once again as the world weighed down on me I turned to cannabis.

I built a room inside my garage, just a pine framed box that was eight foot square and the ceiling was 2 inches higher than my head so I could walk without needing to stoop. It was divided down the middle with two sliding panels which created a wall. On one side was a bench with trays all over it, packed to cover every inch. Pots sat in all the trays. Everything was automated, the reservoir was plumbed in, it was a sweet set up. On the other side I had a low bench to sit on, a kettle, a mug, coffee and sugar and a shiny new stainless steel bong. My sanctuary was complete.

For 4 years I sat in that room at least an hour a day. Some days I was in there all day. I had a rotational system going where each day a new cutting was taken, a clone was moved from the clone box to the bud box and one mature plant was harvested. At any point in time there was a brand new cutting, a day 1, day 2, day 3 cutting and so on, a day 1 on 12/12, day 2 on 12/12 all the way through to the oldest which was ready to harvest.

The plants were all very small, only about 14 inches tall but I harvested one every day. Because it was clone from clone from clone I could study exactly what was going on. If I changed the pH and kept everything else the same, I could actually see the result in front of me, not just be remembering back to the last crop. It gave me the opportunity to really get to know that plant.

Of course I was getting far more bud than I could smoke myself so I shared it liberally with all my friends. People were constantly asking me for it because it was so much nicer than what the dealers were selling and it was costing a fair bit to run the room. Electricity, nutrients, new globes, timers, heaters, fans it all adds up. Even a little bottle of ‘clonex’ was nearly $10. I didn’t feel I was doing anything wrong by selling some of it. Surely my skill and dedication was worth something?

At 30, my sister in law dobbed me in to the police and I was raided, arrested, charged and convicted for use, possession, cultivation and trafficking. Because I naively thought “honesty is the best policy” I ended up with a criminal record and a $1,500 fine. It was quite sickening to think that I was now officially a criminal. I hadn’t stolen anything since I nearly got caught shoplifting a Mars Bar in Year 7. I had never landed a punch. Oh I shouted at a lot of people, I know I wasn’t great company a lot of the time but to call me a criminal!? I didn’t understand it.

Without my cannabis I sank into a really deep depression, although at the time I didn’t know that cannabis was an antidepressant, I thought it was just a reckless party thing that irresponsible lowlifes like me did. I didn’t understand that I was using cannabis because it helped me. My head was full of rubbish misinformation, all I knew was that I loved it. I lay in bed for 4 and 5 days at a time. My thoughts were ‘oh it’s daylight’ and a little while later ‘gee, it’s dark again’. It was like I was in suspended animation. I wasn’t bored or hungry or sad or anything really, I just wasn’t functioning at all. I took a year off work.

The new antidepressants that I was put on did manage to pick me up and get me going again but I was unable to come off them. Every time I tried to lower my dose I would become disoriented and had light electric shock feelings running up and down my arms. It took 5 years to get off those ones. And only after I had decided to go back to cannabis.

Depression was the only diagnosis I had ever been given, I had no idea that I suffered from anxiety as well. I know this sounds really stupid but I didn’t realise that scratching myself until I bled wasn’t normal. Anxiety is after all an invisible medical condition, no one can see it, I didn’t know I had it until I was 40.

In 2010 I had some heart issues and spent 5 days in hospital. I had full time custody of my Son because his mother was having her own pharmaceutical medication issues. I was desperate to get home because 3 year old Son was having a pretty bad time with Mum not being so well and the last thing he needed was Dad looking like he was about to drop off the planet in a hospital bed. I wasn’t worried about my grow op, a friend was happy to do the bare minimum to keep them alive while I couldn’t be there. I knew they’d kick back as soon as I was home.

Up until this point in time I had done no research into cannabis apart from teaching myself how to become a grower of really nice buds. I was smoking it, I wanted it to be beautiful smoke, not like the stuff I saw other people smoking. I knew nothing about the medical benefits although I had heard some vague talk about it suppressing nausea. I knew nothing of the environmental benefits or industrial hemp applications. I didn’t even know about any cannabis culture around the world and believe it or not I didn’t even know about the Nimbin MardiGrass! All I knew was that I loved cannabis. I was a stoner.

4 days after surgery I was able to walk around the ward reasonably comfortably and felt up to going home to my Son. They wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t understand it, it was causing me a lot of stress. I told the doctor I was leaving on the 5th day whether they agreed or not and they reluctantly agreed. I later found out that my mother had told the young, only 3 years out of medical school cardiologist that I was a huge cannabis addict and I wanted to go home to get my fix. Thanks Mum. The cardiologist gave me a lecture about cannabis causing emphysema.

When I got home, more fun was waiting. I later found out that upon receiving the phone call from the surgeon with the news that her firstborn son was having a heart attack and about to undergo surgery, my mother, who suspected I was growing but didn’t have the nerve to confront me about it, went straight to my house. This was her opportunity to search the property and she knew for sure I wasn’t going to walk in on her. She found my setup, unplugged everything and killed the plants. Then she came into the hospital and acted as though she had rushed straight in.

And the fun continues… My beautiful 16 year old Son, who was worried about his dad, came over for dinner that night. He had come in to the hospital every day I was there, he wanted to see me getting better. After dinner I drove him back to his mothers house and pulled up out the front. My youngest Son was in his car seat and my eldest Son and I had both gotten out of the car to say goodbye and give each other a hug as is our habit when we part.

His mother came charging out of the house. She was glaring at me and looked like she was going to explode. She walked right up to me, fist shaking with rage only inches from my nose and screamed at me for what seemed like 10 minutes straight. My eldest Son’s jaw dropped, he was horrified. I just stood there and looked at her, I couldn’t believe it. I was in hospital only 6 hours earlier after heart surgery.

I’d had it. That was the last straw. Something snapped.

I went home and started researching cannabis. If I was going to argue with these bastards I wanted to know what I was talking about.

I was blown away. All these years I was thinking I was a degenerate lowlife stoner because I loved cannabis so much and now I discover that cannabis is going to save the planet, heal the sick, feed the poor and that everyone has been completely lied to the whole time! I was furious.

I began a facebook profile and named it ‘Law Reform’. I went to my 2 oldest sons friend lists and friend requested all their mates. Then I started posting youtube videos I was finding which were giving all this amazing information. There was a whole wide world of cannabis out there which I had absolutely no idea about. As I found the information I shared it with those kids, there was no way I was going to let them feel ashamed of their cannabis use the way I had been made to feel.

Then a curious thing happened. I got a message from a kid of just 19. He had been smoking for a few years and his family were putting him through hell for it. I was the first person he knew who was telling him he was OK and he just wanted to thank me as sincerely as he could. I was stunned. This was important.

Two videos I saw had a huge impact on me. The first was one from New Zealand. This crazy guy calling himself Dakta Green and a bunch of stoners just like me were in a park in some public place, some domain of society. As the hands of their watches hit 4:20 pm they all lit joints up and filled their lungs with the soul lifting smoke of cannabis. “Proud To Be A Stoner” by the Kottonmouth Kings was the accompanying music. “Fuck the oppression” was the message. It was awesome.

The second was footage of a 420 rally in Canada. There were people talking and music and a countdown to 4:20 when a huge cloud of smoke erupted into the air and people cheered. All I saw was thousands and thousands of people who for one day at least knew they were OK. They knew there was nothing wrong with them and they were free to be who they were. It was bloody powerful.

We need rallies like this in Australia.

The term “stoner” is seen as a derogatory term for a person who uses cannabis. A “stoner” is a drug addicted, amoral waste of space in societies views. It is a term which oppresses people, it makes people feel ashamed of themselves and it makes them hide who they are from the world out there.

“Don’t want anyone to know I’m a stoner, they’ll think less of me. They might not employ me.”

“The ladies won’t be interested.”

“People won’t listen to my point of view”

“What if I have to do a piss test?”

The negative self talk takes many forms. It’s oppressive. It robs you of happiness, it takes away the joy of life. It isolates you from friends and family because you are afraid of the negative judgement. It’s the reason stoners sit at home all day. The couch is safe, it is not prejudiced.

By taking ownership of the term, I completely disarm the oppression. “They” can no longer put me down as a lowly “stoner”. In their minds I may still be all that but that is no longer my problem. They can’t put me down, they can’t oppress me. It feels great.

As any enlightened cannabis user will tell you it is not the destructive ‘devil weed’ that it has been portrayed as. Cannabis allows you to think in ways which you otherwise couldn’t. It allows you to understand on a deeper level. It is a mind expanding drug in the true sense. It has helped me to find myself, to know who I am and to be a better person.

As for the facts rather than the fiction about cannabis… The medical benefits are enormous, I don’t need to explain that to any informed cannabis user, ‘enormous’ is an understatement. And when I say benefits I mean for the benefit of people not corporations. The environmental benefits are almost more impressive. We could solve 19 out of 20 of the environments biggest problems if prohibition were over.

The truth is that I am a medical cannabis user who has been labelled by society as a stoner. Now that I know the truth about cannabis I am proud to be a stoner.

For 3 years now I have been researching, reading for hours and watching videos on YouTube. Talking with people all around the world. My mind has been going hard trying to understand how this situation has arisen, what the hell is going on? Why has society got it so incredibly wrong?

I know all the “Reefer Madness” farce and the various financial and industry power plays behind it. I know the lies that have been told and I see fresh lies being spewed out to the ignorant masses by the mainstream media every week. I understand how the propaganda machine works. It spits out a constant barrage of misinformation with billions of dollars behind it to keep the message ‘cannabis is bad’ firmly in the minds of society. These guys are good, they are better than good. They have master manipulators playing the spin game and simply flooding the cannabis information market with an overwhelming amount of rubbish. The truth is drowned out.

The vast majority of people in society who are anti cannabis are ignorant to the facts. Ignorance and prejudice go hand in hand. What are the facts? How does a person decide for themselves what the truth is? They might go online and do some research but most people in Australia get their “knowledge” from the TV news or one of the mainstream newspapers. When 90% of the population are being bombarded by a multi billion dollar propaganda machine which throws seemingly credible misinformation at them our progress in spreading the truth is always going to be slow.

We need to change the whole paradigm. Arguing cannabis is like arguing the bible. There are so many different aspects to it that you can find all the ‘evidence’ you need to back whatever your particular prejudice is.

I’m over arguing ‘facts’. I want to make people see that cannabis prejudice causes harm. The prejudice takes many shapes. Prohibition in law being the most obvious and the clearest thing for us to paint a target on and attack but in reality, in truth, the real enemy is prejudice.

We must make Australia see that cannabis prohibition is based in nothing more than prejudice.

‘Medical cannabis user’ or ‘stoner’, we are all the same. We are people who are being oppressed by ignorance and prejudice. We must stand together in this fight and we must be proud because we are fighting for a better world.

Matt Riley.

A copy of the terms of reference is attached for your information, which also includes a list of the Committee members.

On behalf of the Committee, I would like to invite you to make a submission to the inquiry.  The closing date for submissions is Friday, 15 February 2013.

The Committee will be holding public hearings on 11 and 18 March 2013.

How to lodge a submission

Submissions can be lodged:

1. Online:  http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/gpsc4

2. Email to the Committee: medicalcannabis@parliament.nsw.gov.au

3. Fax to: 9230 2981

4. Post (hard copy) to:  The Director, General Purpose Standing Committee No 4, Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000. 

Distributing the submission

Please note that no one, including the author, may distribute the submission unless authorised by the Committee.  Anyone who republishes a committee document apart from the Parliament or its committees, is subject to the laws of defamation.

Submissions and confidentiality

Submissions are confidential until the Committee makes them public.  If your submission contains information you do not wish to be made public, please mark it confidential.  The Committee will consider all requests for confidentiality, but it is not obliged to keep a submission confidential if it determines that it is not in the public interest to do so.

Background information about the Legislative Council committees and information about making a submission is attached to assist you with your submission.

If you would like further information about the inquiry or making a submission, please do not hesitate to contact Shu-Fang Wei, Senior Council Officer, on (02) 9230 2412.

Please feel free to forward this information to any other interested people or organisations.

The Committee would greatly appreciate your contribution to this inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

The Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC

Committee Chair

General Purpose Standing Committee No. 4

Legislative Council

Parliament House

Macquarie Street

Sydney NSW 2000

ph: 9230 2412

fx: 9230 3416

Download (PDF, 1KB)

Download (PDF, 1KB)

Download (PDF, 1KB)

Use of cannabis for medical purposes (Inquiry)

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/7641E8D87AC53FB3CA257ABF00134E57

Embassy will help

Nimbin visitor, Amanda Fazio was terrific and so good to know she is in NSW Parliament batting and speaking up for us. She has visited various American dispensary models and knows what she is talking about and is educated on cannabis. She urged us to encourage people to make submissions, and said they can be anonymous or ask for your name to be withheld from anything public. The Embassy is more than happy to pass on peoples stories of why they use cannabis if they are concerned about remaining anonymous. She was particularly interested in models of supply and how we should go about it. Michael Balderstone.

“The US Election results with Washington State and Colorado re-legalising cannabis after 75 years of prohibition is the best news for cannabis users in decades. There are now also 19 States over there with legal medical cannabis and now this even bigger step is causing ripples around the globe. On top of this great news we also have the NSW Inquiry into medical cannabis which we are urging everyone to embrace. Here is our chance to be heard and the more submissions the better.”

Recreational cannabis in Colorado will be legal to possess for people age twenty-one or older provided the amount is under 1 ounce. It will be legal to consume pot within a private residence, but not in public. Consumption will be permitted in a manner similar to alcohol, with equivalent offences prescribed for driving. It will be legal to sell cannabis provided the store has obtained a permit to do so, similar to alcohol laws in many states. Private non-commercial cultivation is legal up to six plants per person. Washington State will introduce similar measures.

In Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, or Washington State you can get medical cannabis. Just ring the mobile dispensary van or shop online and get it delivered by courier. Illinois will vote this month and several other states are rushing to ‘catch-up’.

“Our reinvigoration has MardiGrass meetings already happening and a draft development application has been lodged with Lismore Council to hold next years event in the HEMP Embassy backyard, or almost. “There is a natural amphitheatre behind the Embassy with plenty of space for music and the Hemp Olympix. We think it will be much better than trying to work around Peace Park and the new skatepark. This plan includes not closing Sibley street and starting the Sunday Rally in Peace Park. The police and council support the new plan.”

Two recent examples of Nimbin pot art reaching around the globe, the picture in the Guardian is from our protest in Canberra last year when Obama visited.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/07/colorado-washington-marijuana-moment

And a collage in the Huffington Post using the Big Joint.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/18/war-on-drugs-latin-america_n_2151848.html#slide=1764509

Cannabis law reform rally and gathering, first weekend in May.
NimbinMardiGrass.com

Secondly there is the problem that the ‘deterrent’ causes far more damage to individuals and society than cannabis ever has or ever will. And finally, there are questions which need to be asked about the role of government and the rights of the individual.

All around the world there is an awakening to the idea that the “War On Drugs” has failed. Prohibition simply doesn’t work. As a society we need to understand the implications of this. The assumption is made that criminalising cannabis users will act as a deterrent and reduce it’s use. The facts are in. The conclusions have been reached. This assumption is wrong. Instead of being a deterrent, prohibition acts as a powerful force in the supply and demand market for cannabis. It increases the amounts of money involved and attracts the criminal elements into the market. The increased profitability creates an increased market and results in more use. In The Netherlands where cannabis use is accepted levels of use are about half of what they are in Australia.

Cannabis prohibition creates an environment where cannabis users live in fear. It is an entrenched form of persecution against a specific group of individuals in the community. Cannabis users risk many forms of discrimination. A simple positive drug test can destroy a career without there even being a workplace incident. Societies attitude can lead to isolation and loss of community support for individuals and families. A conviction in court will limit career and travel opportunities. Parents can lose custody of their children. Patients forced to go without their medication lose quality of life and suffer in pain unnecessarily.

If we accept that cannabis prohibition does not work we must ask ourselves ‘why is cannabis still prohibited’? Why are people continuing to be persecuted for their cannabis use. Are laws in place to protect the people? If so, why are we using these laws to damage peoples lives?

Is it the governments role to legislate morality? The potential harms involved with cannabis use are very small compared to risks we happily accept on a daily basis. So why is it that government chooses prohibition as a means of control rather than regulation like they do with so many other ‘risky’ activities? Could it be that as a society we are prejudiced against cannabis in much the same way the 1950′s and 1960′s Australian society was prejudiced against ‘coloured’ people with the White Australia policy?

Australian Cannabis users are excited that two American States have deserted the war on drug. On Tuesday Colorado and Washington State voters legalised the recreational use of Cannabis.

Australian HEMP President Michael Balderstone believes the implications for Australia are significant.

“Cannabis law reform is now on the agenda because two American States have put it there. Colorado’s ‘Amendment 64’ provides Australia with a well thought out model that should inspire our politicians. They’ve done the work for us. Now our leaders have no more excuses.”

“Our Prime Ministers’ response to the recent Australia21 Report was nothing less than tragic for us. She just parroted out the same ‘drugs kill’ nonsense that was considered ignorant and ill-informed more than twenty years ago. She needs to get up to date. The foreign minister Mr Carr seems to know what he is talking about when it comes to cannabis law reform, perhaps he can have a talk to her.”

“Our leaders just keep sweeping critical social problems under the carpet. Things like aboriginal incarceration rates and youth suicide, homelessness, alcoholism, and the increasing violence and dispossession that is fed by prohibition. How do you think the youth of today react when some man in a suit tries to tell them that smoking cannabis is ‘dangerous’? They think that they are being lied to. They think you can’t trust the Police, or the Courts, or any part of the government. So this is about getting rid of the phoney issues. This is about getting rid of the hypocrisy and lies that cannabis prohibition breeds?”

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Michael Balderstone, President HEMP Party Australia, TEL: 0266890326/ a/h 66897525;

James Moylan, HEMP Party National Campaign Director, 0266218419

Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/AustralianHempParty/app_195611817141370

Ref: Telegraph.co.uk- US election: Washington and Colorado citizens to be allowed to smoke cannabis freely

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/9661874/US-election-Washington-and-Colorado-citizens-to-be-allowed-to-smoke-cannabis-freely.html
 
Rueters: Colorado, Washington first states to legalize recreational pot
Supporters of a Colorado constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana were the first to declare victory, and opponents conceded defeat, after returns showed the measure garnering nearly 53 percent of the vote versus 47 percent against. www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-marijuana-legalization-idUSBRE8A602D20121107

It was an incredible piece of hyperbole, which she tried to justify even though cannabis has not directly caused any deaths, unlike the thousands killed by these blood-borne diseases. The extent of cannabis use in Australia, she explained, meant that the total burden of disease it caused was greater. She suggested there was a growing body of evidence concerning the impact of cannabis use on mental health, and while little was known about the respiratory effects of cannabis, she had concerns there too.

More research had to be done!

Four years have passed, and tens of millions of dollars have flowed to NCPIC and other similarly obscure acronyms like NDARC, QADREC, etc, etc. After all these years and millions of dollars, what have NCPIC found? Where is the proof that cannabis use is more dangerous than HIV, Hep C and Hep B combined??

Since NCPIC were holding their second conference on cannabis in Brisbane, it seemed like an excellent opportunity to investigate. I contacted the Nimbin Good Times to see if they were interested in a report on the conference. They were. I contacted NCPIC but was informed by their media coordinator Paul Dillon that they would not give me a media pass. He offered me media releases instead and said he might allow me to interview their major speakers, if they were agreeable. Not unexpectedly, these interviews never eventuated.

But the public have a right to know! So ignoring the gate-keeping Mr Dillon, I boldly walked into the NCPIC conference, not even bothering to dress in a suit, with my hippy hair, a shirt red as the people’s flag (in memory of Arthur Pike) and with my Cane Toad Times badge as my media pass, and sat there, a conspicuous hippy among the suits at the NCPIC conference.

Surprisingly, Jan Copeland seems to be moderating her message (or does she save the extremism for her media releases?). I was astonished at one stage to hear her refer to CBD as ‘the good cannabis’! Good cannabis?! Good grief! In John Howard’s day, she would have been condemned for sending the wrong message!

Some of the display boards of their research were interesting too. I learned about the ‘Mull hypothesis’. From research on users on the NSW North Coast, NCPIC discovered many cannabis users were using tobacco as spin. The ‘Mull hypothesis’ suggests cannabis may act as a reverse-gateway drug, leading to tobacco use!

The most interesting display board contrasted the incidence of diseases in cannabis-only users, tobacco-and-cannabis users, tobacco-only users, and those who used neither. Not unexpectedly, cannabis-only users do worse than people who use neither cannabis nor tobacco in incidence of emphysema and bronchitis. It is the delivery system (smoking), rather than the drug that causes harm. But cannabis-only users have significantly lower levels of cancer and liver and kidney diseases than the other groups. This is not the sort of information that NCPIC send out media releases on. Maybe the Hemp Embassy should warn those considering giving up cannabis that they are significantly increasing their risk of cancer and liver and kidney disease?

HEMP had organised a picket – the NCPICket – outside the conference on Thursday night and some supporters from Students for Sensible Drugs Policy turned up. Their placards read: #1 Cannabis Problem: It’s illegal; Cannabis: Use Abuse; Cannabis Has Benefits Too; NCPIC supporting black market profits; and NCPIC hypocrites.

The picket was organised for 5.30pm because the bar was due to open at 6.30pm, so some of the conference-goers filled in their time as they waited for the bar to open by talking with the protestors. It was a small sample, about ten or so, but they all agreed when challenged that the main problem with cannabis was the illegality. Asked why they weren’t discussing this at their conference, their defence was that governments wouldn’t listen. One attendee said the picket should be directed at a criminal justice conference, rather than them!

The week before, the national president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Kos Sclavos, had suggested at the Pharmacy Business Network conference in Canberra that pharmacists had the experience to dispense legal marijuana. Mr Sclavos said debate over decriminalising illicit drugs was the number one issue on the health side of politics. He told delegates that while in the capital, he had met with politicians who were looking for a solution as to how drugs such as marijuana could be distributed if they were legalised.

Change is in the air. Hopefully the day is not far off when groups like NCPIC will exhibit the same courage to talk truth to the politicians as the Pharmacy Guild.

John Jiggens.