‘ So, the Government agreed to appoint such a Council,’ she said,‘ but they never did.’‘ I continued to contact them to ask‘ where’ s the Advisory Council?’ and I’ d be told‘ oh, we’ re a bit busy’ or‘ we’ re getting to it’ or‘ now we’ re in caretaker mode’. So here it is, a year later, we’ ve got the Regulations written and they’ re very prohibitive, very restrictive and patients have got to jump through hoops to access medical cannabis. So, the Advisory Council was never initiated, the Regulations were orchestrated by one or two individuals who have no background in medical cannabis, who didn’ t consult and now we’ re paying the price. It’ s very poorly written, it’ s not written with any amount of compassion or desire to see patients get access – it actually reads as being the complete opposite. And that’ s down to a couple of individuals who refuse to hear any criticism.’
Such harsh words however richly deserved, from someone considered an ally, must have come as a slap round the face to a Department already embroiled in a row.
The interview, together with the Australian Business Review story and a petition by an advocacy group in Queensland, furious at the Government for tweaking existing rules which, as we have mentioned, now make obtaining cannabis products even more difficult than before legislation was passed all seemed to have an effect.
Just over a fortnight later a spate of newspaper stories popped up declaring‘ Former Liberal to head up cannabis council’. A more detailed outline was provided on the Department of Health website but the enterprise bears all the hallmarks of policy made on the fly. Although the DoH says the new Council will sit next month, thus far only a Chair has been appointed – and, for medical cannabis campaigners, its is probably not an inspiring choice.
In 2011 during an ABC radio interview about the use of hemp seed as food stuff – something proponents have long argued would provide an excellent industrial opportunity for Australia while bringing the country into line with the rest of the world – the newly installed head of the nascent‘ Advisory Council on the Medicinal Use of Cannabis’ was violently opposed.
‘ It needs to be seen as part of a wider campaign to normalise the use of marijuana,’ he said at the time, making clear, in his view,‘ cannabis itself as a drug is not safe‘.
Dr Andrew Southcott, is, as his title suggests, a qualified medic. As former Liberal MP for Boothby in South Australia however – a seat cynics say was‘ inherited’ from his mother, esteemed Parliamentarian Heather Southcott –‘ career politician’ would be the more accurate label. He resigned at the last election possibly after a failed bid for the Speaker’ s job in the House but was – and presumably remains – very much of the Party faithful as his voting record will attest. A brief stint as Shadow Employment Participation, Training and Sport under Malcolm Turnbull was fallowed by a fall from grace under Tony Abbot and he remained on the back benches thereafter. Although no mover and shaker, Southcott did hit the headlines in 2015 after it was revealed he spent $ 2,700 of public cash in 2013 flying first class with his wife to watch the Australian Open as a guest of health insurer Medibank. Southcott was the Opposition’ s Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare at the time.
His medical experience – hardly extensive, given a working life spent in submission to the Liberal Whip – coupled with such undoubted loyalty makes him perhaps an unsurprising pick for a Federal Health Department known but not loved for its evident antipathy toward the re-introduction of weed to the clinician’ s armoury.
More appointments will surely follow but the Government – and Southcott himself – face problems. For years’ research into the possible benefits of cannabis has been met with obstruction with the bulk of funding