EXPERT ATTACKS MEDICINAL CANNABIS PLAN

A recommendation to allow sufferers of severe pain or illness to grow and
use cannabis was flawed, a gathering of NSW MPs was told today.

The NSW Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes
(NSWPOC) had recommended a two-year trial in which patients with severe
pain or illness would be able to grow up to five plants for personal use
and be exempt from prosecution.

The NSW Cabinet is still considering the proposal.

Researcher John Anderson, of the Brain and Behaviour Centre at Westmead,
today warned the wording of any proposed legislation should be considered
very carefully.

"When you think about the legislation, think about the soft words; what do
I mean when I say 'it's OK to use it for chronic pain'," Dr Anderson said.

"These ... are serious issues because if you don't do that, you open up
Pandora's Box," he told a handful of interested state politicians.

Dr Anderson said it was impossible to define chronic pain and this had led
to problems in places where similar programs had been trialled.

"You get exactly what's happened in California, where you actually get the
courts filled with clients who are taking to court, doctors who will not
define their pain as being chronic pain, so you finish up with a legal
problem at the other end."

He said the NSWPOC proposal circumvented all existing legislation and
statutes designed to protect the public against the use of harmful drugs.

"This proposed legislation indicates that on the grow-your-own model,
people will be for the first time legally able to grow cannabis," Dr
Anderson said.

"And I have some concerns about that because the evidence from overseas
says there will be some people who will abuse that system."

He also said the so-called grow-your-own model would prevent clinical and
scientific research from being undertaken.