While Jenny Hallam was raided by South
Australian police on January 4 this year.
Ms Hallam was supplying around 100
patients throughout the country. She’s now
facing up to 10 years imprisonment for
providing cannabis oil to patients for free.
Even though, it’s a similar product to what the
government is importing from overseas.
An Australian medicinal cannabis pioneer
Dr Andrew Katelaris is a medicinal cannabis
producer. He began experimenting with the
medical uses of the plant in the early 1990s,
and he currently acts as a consultant at the
Ubuntu Wellness Clinic.
In 1997, Katelaris was granted the state’s first
industrial hemp licence and he was also
granted a licence to grow medicinal plants in
2001. However, both licences were revoked
after the NSW health minister was replaced.
Over recent years, the doctor has been
working with over 50 children with serious
seizure disorders, including intractable
epilepsy, and providing them with medicine.
He believes it’s “obscene” that the
government is importing medicine from
overseas, when it can be and is being
produced in Australia.
“We can support the average small child for
about $150 a month,” Dr Katelaris told
Sydney Criminal Lawyers. “The equivalent
pharmaceutical
cannabis
from
GW
Pharmaceuticals is $1,500 a month.”
The problem is the TGA
Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale
introduced the Regulator of Medicinal
Cannabis Bill into federal parliament in
November 2014. It sought to establish an
independent regulator to oversee the
establishment of a system of legalised
medical marijuana.
But the Health Department had concerns, as
the new regulatory system might conflict with
the Therapeutic Goods Act. Senator Di Natale
stressed the independence of the new system,
as the TGA markets pharmaceuticals and
doesn’t issue approval for herbal medicines.
The Greens bill was ideal as it sidestepped the
TGA, Dr Katelaris explained. However,
“Turnbull wouldn’t support that and instead
he put up his own bill, which put it under
complete TGA control.” This was the
Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016 that
was passed in February last year.
According to Katelaris, “the big issue” is that
the TGA are trying to turn medical marijuana
into a pharmaceutical-only product. While
producers like himself don’t have a problem
with pharmaceutical cannabis products, they
want
“unregulated
home
growing”
established as well.
The three-tiered system
Medical marijuana producers in Australia are
calling for a moratorium on arrests and an end
to prohibition. And as Dr Katelaris outlines
they want a three-tiered system to be
established, which would comprise of “home
growing, proxy growing and pharmaceutical
production.”
Home growing would allow people to
produce their own medicine cheaply. Proxy
growing groups would be set up to cultivate
small plantations, providing for people who
couldn’t grow their own. And then,
pharmaceutical companies registered with the
TGA could produce medicine that is only
available by prescription.
However, the current system only allows for
the third tier: patented medical preparations,
which will be produced by big pharmaceutical
companies. And as medicinal cannabis
advocates will tell you, these products are
vastly inferior to the herbal preparations.
“We see it as a food supplement, rather than a
drug. They’re trying to make a full
pharmaceutical drug out of it, which it’s not,”
Dr Katelaris concluded. “The TGA is the
price maintenance unit for big pharmaceutical
corporations.”