Australia to Lift Ban on Cannabis

The Federal Government of Australia has announced the move to legalise the growth of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.

CNN reports that the Australia government said 'the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967 would be amended to allow the drug to be grown locally, without breaching the country's international obligations as a signatory to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961.' Health Minister Sussan Ley said in a released statement that the 'government is incredibly sympathetic to the suffering of those Australians with debilitating illnesses and we want to enable access to the most effective medical treatments available.'

This news has been welcomed with open arms by an Australian company AusCann that has been planning to grow and export marijuana. The said company has already been granted with production approval earlier this year. However, it was later overturned due to lack of a regulating body.

In a news article publish by ABC, former Liberal MP Mal Washer believed that this new legislation "solved that problem and would allow the venture to go ahead." He added that '[n]ow the Health Department will become the regulating body for this so hopefully this will be reversed...Hopefully we'll get into production and that'll enable us to provide some material for trials in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.'

On the other hand, Greens Leader Richard Di Natale told Sky News that the move to allow farmers to grow medicinal cannabis 'does little to get the drug into patients' hands. We've addressed the issue of supply by licencing growers but we've ignored the much bigger problem which is approving the drugs for use so that doctors can prescribe it. I fear these changes won't allow that to happen'.

Under current laws, the use and production marijuana is still classified as an illegal drug and possession, sale, growth, and usage of such are punishable by law.