NSW election 2015: Medical marijuana has widespread support from Vote Compass users

Almost four out of five New South Wales voters support the legalisation of medical marijuana, according to the ABC's Vote Compass survey.

Of almost 35,000 respondents, 79 per cent said they strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that marijuana should be legal when used for medical purposes.

www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-16/nsw-election-vote-compass-medical-marijuana-canna...


Campaign Update January 2015

While the public and political debate continues to attract media attention, neither of the major parties has committed to taking the steps required to adequately respond to the potential for relief from pain and suffering for tens of thousands of NSW residents.

More details have been released about Premier Mike Baird’s cautious approach to medicinal cannabis reform.

We now know that there will be clinical trials commencing in 2016 for patients with a wide range of illnesses including children with intractable epilepsy (click here for details on how to apply to be involved in the clinical trials).

We also have further details about the government’s Terminal Illness Cannabis Scheme and how to register.

John said that the Baird government’s plan was a somewhat brave step forward, but warned that the trials would take a long time leaving many people without legal access to medicinal cannabis.

Clinical trials take years. It might not be until 2020 before real legislative reform is finally introduced.

The changes to the police guidelines to allow police the discretion to not charge terminally ill patients who use medicinal cannabis do not go far enough. Without legislated protection such patients and their carers will still feel like criminals and will still be exposed to the risk of prosecution.

Limiting the scheme to the terminally ill ignores those who are coping with nausea and appetite loss from chemotherapy, chronic nerve pain or muscular pain from cerebral palsy or diseases like multiple sclerosis.

Labor at least understands the Greens’ concerns about Premier Mike Baird’s approach. However we do not know yet what model of legislated protection from prosecution the Labor party would support, nor how they would deal with the supply of cannabis and which patients would be included in the scheme.

In November last year, the Greens introduced a bill into the NSW parliament that solved the supply issue and went well beyond the issue of the terminally ill (view the bill here and John’s speech introducing the legislation to parliament in November 2014 here).

We responded to the growing body of existing evidence of the usefulness of crude cannabis products for many other conditions.

Any further delay to medicinal cannabis law reform in NSW will see tens of thousands of patients suffer needlessly or risk prosecution in order to seek relief from their symptoms.

The NSW Government and Labor Opposition should stop arguing over trials for medicinal cannabis and change the laws for the sake of seriously ill patients.

TAKE ACTION:

www.johnkaye.org.au/campaigns/support-the-greens-bill-to-legalise-medicinal-cann...

On the topic itself, there is clear support for medical cannabis. It is a difficult issue to make progress on though, because the vested interests that seek to oppose it have deep pockets.

I support the greens in NSW too ... as long as they stay there and don't come up to QLD, I'm happy 

bogarde73 wrote on Mar 16^th, 2015 at 12:45pm:


Bet you say that a lot.

... wrote on Mar 16^th, 2015 at 11:43am:

Yes, Cannabidiol has promise as a treatment for schizophrenia, epilepsy and some cancers.

i actually think if you got rid of the green senators and just presented the policies , they might go from 8 % to 20 %.

what a sad inditement on your party when the sales people drive the popularity through the floor.

as for pot. 

well , the war on drugs employs a lot of people and centrelink would be swamped with out of work police, social workers, childrens service officers, legal workers and prison and parole employees if we legalised drugs.

and the legalisation of alcohol and tobacco has certainly kept lots of health workers employed.

seriously, get high on nature greenie.

tell your greenie mates to put down their avocado and crushed selenium tofu wraps and venture out of inner suburbia and go for a bushwalk through a beautiful national park. 
i know its a risk to park their V8 BMW x9 in the bush.
i know they might not be home to go tsk tsk to the latest episode of Q and A.
its possible a dairy farmer working a 80 hour week may have his herd blocking the road.

but its worth it greens.

you can watch the mardi gras replay on iview.

get out of inner suburbia .

the hypoxia is affecting your brain

gizmo_2655 wrote on Mar 16^th, 2015 at 2:22pm:

More than "some" ... the article quoted in the OP discusses the ABC Vote Compass findings on this issue. There is strong support for the proposition across the political spectrum. Conservative voters are a little less likely to agree strongly with the proposition, but otherwise the community support is broad.

(I encourage you to click the link and see the results for yourself.)