AUSTRALIA STATE SEEKS FEDERAL BANKING TO TRIAL POT AS A THERAPY

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian state has sought central government backing to
trial cannabis as a medicinal treatment for people suffering acute but
otherwise untreatable pain, officials said.

New South Wales premier Bob Carr wrote to conservative Prime Minister John
Howard for help in trialing the illegal drug to treat conditions such as HIV
(news - web sites), cancer and multiple sclerosis that do not respond to
more conventional therapy.

Carr said the government had no intention of decriminalising cannabis, and
since he had no desire to allow backyard cultivation or purchase from
illegal traffickers, alternative ways of accessing the drug would have to be
explored.

"New South Wales is opposed to any scheme which involves growing cannabis in
backyards or requiring sick people to buy it on the black market," Carr
said.

This, he said, meant looking at alternatives, which in turn required
cooperation from the federal government and it was hoped from other
Australian states and territories.

Carr said importing cannabis products from Canada under strict conditions
was one of those alternatives.

"Canada and eight American states, including Colorado and Washington, allow
the use of cannabis for strictly medicinal purposes," he said.

In May last year, Howard said he would support a trial to allow cannabis use
for pain relief in the chronically ill as long as the drug was prescribed.

But he said he would not back patients growing their own marijuana and
remained opposed to the decriminalisation of the drug.

The New South Wales government has previously consulted with the British
Home Office about the progress of an inhaler spray.