TURNBULL GOVERNMENT FAILS AGAIN ON MEDICINAL CANNABIS

Australians with terminal illness trying to access medicinal cannabis for pain relief have been dealt another blow, with the Turnbull Government actively blocking their access to medicinal cannabis.

 

Reports have confirmed the Government has put in place another barrier to prevent people from accessing medicinal cannabis - instructing importers not to supply to anyone holding a prescription under category A of the special access scheme.

 

Access to category A has always been tightly restricted to people with a terminal illness – and only if it is clinically appropriate.

 

Labor supported the Senate’s disallowance motion because of the Government’s failure to improve access to regulated domestic market. Sourcing medicinal cannabis from overseas under Category A was only ever an interim solution until a domestic market is established.

 

The Government should be doing everything it can to expand patient access to medicinal cannabis, not hiding behind technicalities.

 

It says everything about Malcolm Turnbull that instead of helping Australians with terminal illness and their families, his top priority is to find a way to get around the Senate’s decision to give dying Australians access to the pain relief they need.

 

Malcolm Turnbull should be ashamed of the way his Government has tried to scaremonger on this issue, stigmatising the people who are trying to access medicinal cannabis.

 

He needs to face the families of those dying with terminal illness and tell them why he is treating them as drug smugglers, instead of helping them access pain relief.