Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016 will provide a legislative framework that will enable cannabis cultivation in Australia and provide Australian patients in need with access to medicinal cannabis for a range of therapeutic purposes in the future. Often this is for the alleviation of serious and chronic pain and will have to be prescribed by a doctor or as part of a clinical trial.

Currently in Australia, there are systems in place to license the manufacture and supply of cannabis based products; however, there is no mechanism to allow the cultivation of a safe, legal and sustainable local supply of cannabis raw material. This bill does not legalise cannabis use and cultivation for recreational purposes. The government understands that there are some Australians suffering from severe medical conditions for which cannabis may have some application, and we want to enable access to the most effective medical treatments available.

A 2013 New South Wales parliamentary report stated that:

… on the present medical evidence, cannabis based treatments will only be appropriate for a small number of people in specific circumstances, and under the supervision of medical practitioners with suitable expertise. Those patients would necessarily be people with severe and distressing symptoms that are not able to be addressed by existing medications.

At the same time, it is important we maintain the same high safety standards for products derived from cannabis that we apply to any other medicine. It is imperative that we have a clear national licensing system to ensure that we maintain the integrity of crops for medicinal or scientific purposes only.

The national approach will allow the Commonwealth, acting with the states and territories, to closely manage the supply of cannabis products from farm to pharmacy. There is no question that this will have to be carefully managed, inspected, monitored and investigated, given that Australians, including adolescent Australians, are frequently addicted to cannabis. This will be particularly important. A secure process of growing, harvesting, manufacturing and delivery will need to be very carefully managed. The amendments will also ensure that, when cultivation and production of cannabis and manufacture of products for medicinal purposes begin, Australia will remain compliant with its international treaty obligations as defined in the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961.

The Commonwealth currently has laws to regulate the import, export and manufacture of cannabinoids and cannabis raw material, but these do not allow the cultivation in Australia of cannabis plants for medicinal purposes. The manufacturing provisions in the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 are considered inadequate to properly manage the risks associated with the potential for diversion of medicinal cannabis products and other narcotic drugs. The reason that this is necessary is very clear. The Australian Crime Commission's Illicit drug data report of 2013-14 states:

Cannabis continues to dominate the Australian illicit drug market and remains the leading illicit drug in Australia in terms of seizures, arrests and use.

The critical point here is that cannabis is the leading illicit drug used in Australia. The weight of cannabis border detections in 2013-14 was the highest reported in the last decade, and there were 53,404 border detections and 66,684 arrests nationally, which is another reason appropriate federal legislation is required.

There will be significant pressure on the growers and manufacturers from organised crime and opportunists. Law enforcement will be taking a very close look at the regulations that we are providing. The requirements for cannabis cultivation under the international single convention are quite different from those for poppies grown for non-opium-producing purposes, because of the significantly different risks to public health from the diversion of the crop that I have just spoken about.

As we know, cannabis is dangerous to adolescents during their developmental years. It is a drug that is associated with schizophrenia, psychosis, the development of mental illness and the risk of suicide. Parents talk about changes in their children's moods, anxiety and difficulty with thinking, learning and problem solving, so the strength in this legislation is particularly important to parents. Of course, we do see people taking risks in this space—buying illegal drugs online, and through illegal suppliers. Often they have no idea what it is that they are buying and what is in that product.

There are a number of checks and balances in this bill, as we know, for cultivation, production, manufacture, importation and distribution. These are tightly controlled in Australia, and they are covered under a range of Commonwealth laws. The amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 will ensure that any therapeutic product, including medicinal cannabis, also meets Australia's international obligations that safeguard its production, manufacture and distribution for medical and scientific purposes only.

As I said, there are a number of checks and balances to cannabis licences, including a strict fit and proper person test. This will be applied to the applicant and relevant business associates and will involve consideration of a range of matters, including criminal history, connections, associates and family, financial status, business history and capacity to comply with licensing requirements. Licence holders will be required and expected to remain fit and proper. This test is explicitly designed to ensure the exclusion of criminal elements, including organised crime, which may be tempted to use the licence system as a cover for illegal activities—and you can guarantee that criminal elements will try.

There will be a need to demonstrate a supply arrangement with a licensed manufacturer, a permit system for controlling how much cannabis can be produced, and conditions applying to the licence to ensure the security of the crop—that it is not diverted to illicit uses, and I see this as a really critical element of this bill. There will also be substantial penalties for breaches of conditions and for undertaking unauthorised activities. There is a comprehensive suite of regulatory controls and powers: to give directions to licence holders of inspection, monitoring and investigation; to issue infringement notices and seek civil penalties; to accept enforceable undertakings; and to seek injunctions. These are all to assist in ensuring the integrity of the system. In supporting this legislation, I have no doubt that these regulatory and enforcement requirements will be important in managing the effects of this legislation over time.

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