CANBERRA: Medicinal cannabis will become legal in Australia from November, after a landmark decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. The substance will remain strictly controlled – with only those prescribed the drug allowed to take it – following the landmark decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The drug can also be used to help stimulate appetite for those with HIV, treat inflammatory bowel disease and migraines. The decision follows the Federal Parliament’s resolve to support changing the Narcotic Drugs Act to allow cannabis to be legally grown in Australia if it is for medicinal purposes.
Yet with a national regulator not yet set up, campaigners for the legalisation of the drug warned that medicinal cannabis might still be difficult to get hold of, despite the decision. Lucy Haslam, who has worked to get the drug legalised for medical use, told the Canberra Times that the suggested legal medical marijuana industry could be “so bound up in red tape” it wouldn’t work.