Essay On Medical Cannabis In Australia

Medical cannabis, in Australia, has recently been a controversial issue attracting significant debate. Cannabis is the most widely used illicit psychoactive substance. However, the cannabis plant has medicinal properties for treating specific health conditions to relieve symptoms. The use of Cannabis is considered illegal for all purpose until recently. On October 12, 2016, the Queensland Parliament had passed the ‘Public Health (Medicinal Cannabis) Act 2016’. The Act creates a regulatory framework to allow medicinal cannabis products to be prescribed and dispensed to patients in Queensland and prevent unauthorised use of these products. Any cannabis used outside of the regulatory framework is still illegal. The Act had been passed due to the

The earliest well-documented evidence of use has been dated to 4,000 BCE in China, and textual evidence indicates it was used medicinally in various locations (including Greece, China, India, Egypt and the Middle East) up to 4,000 years ago. Cannabis has been used to treat many conditions, including pain, anxiety, gout, burns, dandruff, jaundice, depression, insomnia, appetite loss, and asthma, amongst others. In the twentieth century, concerns over non-medicinal drug use led to many international agreements, like the United Nation Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961, which were based on the principle that drugs should only be used for medical or scientific purposes, and introduced controls on cannabis as well as other drugs. In the 1920s, Australia introduced legislations to restrict cannabis and the importation was banned by the Commonwealth. Cannabis is listed under schedule 9 of the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) federally, which limits its used only for approved research, medical use for public is restricted. Meanwhile, from the last two decades, there have been repeated calls for access to medicinal cannabis in