You wouldn't treat a dog the way we treat our terminally ill. Despite support from the Country Women's Association, Law Society, Cancer Council and medical community, our PM is out to prove he's tough on drugs. "I've always had a very tough line on this stuff - really, really hard line," Mr Rudd once told Channel 9. "I'm in John Howard's camp on this one. We have a unity ticket." The dangers of smoking marijuana are well documented: mental illness, cancer, heart attack and immune disorders. Clearly, it shouldn't be legalised. But it should be available to alleviate suffering. Victorian doctors want to trial a cannabinoid mouth spray, Sativex, for patients with MS. They'll need the dexterity of Circus Oz to jump through all the hoops - all for a drug that's legal in the UK, Europe and US. Back home, NSW's last attempt went up in smoke.
In
2003
then-Premier
Bob
Carr
announced a trial of medical cannabis after being moved by the suffering of Upper House MP Paul O'Grady. It didn't go ahead because of issues with
drug
importation.
In
the
meantime,
thousands of ordinary Australians risk fines or jail trying to ease the suffering of their loved ones.
When Jesus said, "suffer the little children", I don't think this is what he had in mind.