CWA IN MARIJUANA SHOCK

THE Country Women's Association has caused shockwaves in Tasmania by
voting to lobby for medical trials of marijuana as a painkiller.

Retired pharmacist and lifetime CWA member Ailsa Bond, 80, was
surprised at the unanimous support for her motion at this week's state
conference. Mrs Bond said she prescribed a liquid tincture of
marijuana early in her career, in the 1940s.

She said that was before recreational use of the drug became a huge
problem in the US.

"Methadone can be controlled as a treatment for heroin addicts, why
couldn't cannabis (marijuana) be controlled too," Mrs Bond asked.

She had only handwritten notes to pass out after the vote, having not
to typed them because she expected the motion to be defeated.

Ruth (not her real name) told how her husband cried in pain as he died
of cancer but couldn't use morphine. He became so fragile that he
broke a rib while reaching over to turn off a radio.

"The pain was all through his body, and to him, morphine was a
poison," Ruth said.

"It made him so dreadfully ill, he couldn't keep food down. He wasted
away to just 48kg.

"The doctors tried so many other painkillers, and every anti-nausea
drug known to man, but nothing worked. It wasn't just the pain, it was
the indignity."

Ruth read overseas studies about the use of marijuana for pain relief
and thought it might be just the thing.

But her doctor said he couldn't prescribe it.

"Of course it might not have helped my husband, but it may have done,"
she said.

"What harm could there be in trialling it?

"I feel very strongly about this. People don't realise the absolute
horror of watching someone you love in so much pain.

Another CWA member Helen (not her real name), who is nursing a husband
with war-related health problems, said the South Australian and ACT
governments allowed a small number of plants to be grown for personal
use.

"If I could, I would. I would grow a few plants and make sure nobody
could get to them," she said.

"You just can't imagine the sense of hopelessness . . . when someone
is suffering like this and something that might help is beyond your
reach."

Mrs Bond joined the CWA in 1947 and said it had always been
progressive organisation.

"We've been raising issues for 60 or 70 years," she said. "We've
talked about the value of water, the importance of trees.

"We lobbied for childcare centres, for roads, for hospitals and
libraries.

"We have an image that all we do is have tea and scones, but we've
always been outspoken."

In response to the CWA motion, the Tasmanian Government said there was
no plan to legalise medicinal use of marijuana unless it was part of
national reform