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PRESS RELEASE - 3rd September 2002
Cannabis For Pain
SYDNEY - Cancer sufferers and AIDS victims were among protesters at NSW parliament calling for the government to support cannabis for medical use.
The protesters gathered on Macquarie Street to urge the Carr government to accept a working party's recommendations for the use of cannabis as medicine.
Dr Andrew Katelaris, medical consultant to protest organisers NSW Compassion Club, said the state government had granted a licence for research looking at the ingredients of various strains of cannabis and their effects.
"Our licence specifically stops short of allowing human trials even though 30 per cent of Australian adults have actually used cannabis," he said outside parliament.
"We're not allowed to give them safe, medically standardised cannabis ... they have to go and buy it from the crooks.
"What we want is to be allowed to set up a medical grow room, enrol people in clinical trials and start the proper scientific evaluation of the clinical uses of cannabis in its various forms of extraction."
Club co-founder Andrew Kavasilas said cannabis made a major difference in sick people's lives.
"For AIDS sufferers it can just be a matter of being able to eat more, keep food down, and feel pleasant about life ... for cancer patients who are going through chemo it's very good for allaying the feeling of nausea ... and for other patients like MS, the muscle relaxant properties of cannabis are well known and well documented," he said.
Coogee MS sufferer Ed Mycak said he was there to support cannabis as a therapeutic agent for his own use, as it helped ease his symptoms.
"I have tried the other available agents ... but that has not been useful for me and I have had to discontinue use after a year," he said.
MAP posted-by: Beth
Pubdate: Tue, 03 Sep 2002
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2002 The Age Company Ltd
Contact: letters@theage.fairfax.com.au
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Australian Associated Press
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