Australia Fully Accepts Legal Medical Cannabis into Its Culture

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap radius”]I[/dropcap]n 2012 The New York Times published an article stating that Australians consumed more cannabis than any other people in the world. Now in `2016 and the country’s love and support of the plant seems not to have changed. A bill was presented to Australian Parliament on February 3, that would allow the cultivation of cannabis for medical and scientific reasons, according to Reuters. Weeks later, on February 24, the bill was approved.

While it is a historical moment for medical cannabis in Australia, it has taken time for the country to determine exactly where it stands on the matter. Cannabis became illegal in Australia at the 1925 Geneva Convention, a meeting organized by the League of Nations to discuss the use of cocoa, opium and eventually cannabis. Australia’s Director of Alcohol and Drug Law Reform Foundation stated that the meeting was intended to make each plant illegal, except for scientific and medical purposes. Ben Mostyn, a lawyer and founding member of the Australian Drug Law Reform Initiative at the University of New South Wales told Vice this only happened because no one was really familiar with cannabis at the time and Australia gave in to pressure from the U.S. and the League of Nations to make the plant illegal.

As years passed, cannabis use in Australia was little known until the 1960s. Substantial use of the plant during this time encouraged Australian officials to consider increasing penalties for those caught in possession of cannabis. Luckily, in 1977 an Australian Senate committee recommended to decrease penalties for those in possession, eventually leading to decriminalization of cannabis in some Australian states in the ‘90s, and the 2000 cannabis cautioning scheme, which allowed authorities to give a warning to first time offenders for possession of cannabis.

Fast forward to 2015, the Andrews Government in Victoria legalized locally cultivated cannabis, with the intent to make the plant accessible to children with intractable epilepsy by 2017, according to The Premier of Victoria. Currently, over in Melbourne, The Austin Hospital is currently seeking 60 children volunteers suffering from intractable epilepsy to participate in a study that will analyze the effects of CBD on their condition. Now that medical cannabis has fully been legalized patients will no longer fear prosecution and scientist will be able to freely cultivate and study its medical benefits according to International Business Times.

Australia’s Health Minister Susan Ley states “…this is the missing piece in a patient’s treatment journey, and [we] will now see seamless access to locally produced medicinal cannabis products from farm to pharmacy.”

While Australia has taken a by legalizing cannabis medically, recreational legalization like that in Colorado and Washington will take many years and much effort to achieve in the country. President of Australia’s Drug and Law enforcement, Dr. Alex Woodak told Australian magazine The Vine, “Australia will not see ballot initiatives on taxing and regulating cannabis like Colorado and Washington states,” adding. “Our cannabis reforms started in the 1980s in South Australia. We have had two decades of creeping liberalization of our cannabis laws at the state/territory level. I think this process will accelerate now, but that it will still take a couple of decades before Australia taxes and regulates cannabis in all states and territories.