❓ Mrs. Stojkovski asks about the government's progress in reducing red tape for medicinal cannabis access. The Minister details the implementation of a new online system that significantly reduces approval times for patients.
AnsweredQoN 857Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MEDICINAL CANNABIS
857. Mrs J.M.C. STOJKOVSKI to the Minister for Health:
Before I ask my question, on behalf
of the member for Southern River I acknowledge in the gallery today the
students from St Munchin's Catholic Primary School.
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's long-held
commitment to improving access to medicinal cannabis to alleviate the suffering
of those with terminal or chronic conditions. Can the minister update the house
on how this government is continuing to reduce red tape for those Western Australians
to ensure that they get access to treatment in a timely manner?
857. Mrs J.M.C. STOJKOVSKI to the Minister for Health:
Before I ask my question, on behalf
of the member for Southern River I acknowledge in the gallery today the
students from St Munchin's Catholic Primary School.
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's long-held
commitment to improving access to medicinal cannabis to alleviate the suffering
of those with terminal or chronic conditions. Can the minister update the house
on how this government is continuing to reduce red tape for those Western Australians
to ensure that they get access to treatment in a timely manner?
AnswerView source ↗
I take great pleasure in updating
the chamber on how we are continuing to make medicinal cannabis available to
patients in Western Australia. Putting patients first is our fundamental
priority. I take people back to 2014 when the then Leader of the Opposition,
Mark McGowan, pledged that if we were to achieve government, we would move to
give people suffering from terminal or chronic diseases and conditions access
to medicinal cannabis. The Premier was the first leader of a major political
party to make that pledge. I remember at the time Hon Kim Hames, the then
Minister for Health, said that this sends the wrong message, this is the thin
edge of the wedge and this will lead to people accessing cannabis on the
streets and mayhem will break out.
It was not long after the now
Premier made that commitment that other radical organisations also made that
commitment, including the federal Liberal government! Upon achieving
government, the Premier and I moved to fast-track prescriptions for medicinal
cannabis for those Western Australians who need it. As members would be aware
from constituent inquiries, that has been a fairly cumbersome process to date
because we do not have a Therapeutic Goods Administration clearance for the
vast majority of products on the market. As a result, we need special
arrangements in place so that people can access these frontier therapeutic
goods in a way that does not compromise their safety.
In April 2018, the Department of
Health joined other jurisdictions in Australia that followed the lead that the
Premier provided in approving work towards a single approval process for
medicinal cannabis products to be managed by the Therapeutic Goods
Administration. I am pleased to say that the new online system was launched in Western
Australia on 2 October this year.
This means that those people who
previously had to wait potentially up to three weeks to access medicinal cannabis
can now do so in under 48 hours, achieving the clearances they need to gain
through both the federal authorisation process and the state process. Prior to
this introduction, prescribers were required to complete and submit paper forms
to the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the state Department of Health
separately and that, as I said, created some significant delays.
The prescribing of medicinal
cannabis rightly remains the responsibility of a qualified medical
professional. As I said, this is still a bit ahead of the medical research, and
for those people who require it—many do because they have chronic
conditions—it is important that they get it. This simply streamlines
the approval process. As I have been keen to stress with other people, it does
not resolve issues around price and availability. We have an emerging industry
with medicinal cannabis and many people are still struggling to get the
products they need at the quality they need. However, this is an important
first step. It means that for those people who have a chronic condition,
particularly epilepsy and other conditions that they want addressed, or who
have a terminal condition and think they would benefit from some pain
management or who have other issues that the cannabinoids can contribute to,
this is an important step to make sure that they have a smooth pathway to get
access to those products. This is an important step. I hope in the future we
will continue to provide therapy and relief for these patients. It is all about
our priority of putting patients first.
the chamber on how we are continuing to make medicinal cannabis available to
patients in Western Australia. Putting patients first is our fundamental
priority. I take people back to 2014 when the then Leader of the Opposition,
Mark McGowan, pledged that if we were to achieve government, we would move to
give people suffering from terminal or chronic diseases and conditions access
to medicinal cannabis. The Premier was the first leader of a major political
party to make that pledge. I remember at the time Hon Kim Hames, the then
Minister for Health, said that this sends the wrong message, this is the thin
edge of the wedge and this will lead to people accessing cannabis on the
streets and mayhem will break out.
It was not long after the now
Premier made that commitment that other radical organisations also made that
commitment, including the federal Liberal government! Upon achieving
government, the Premier and I moved to fast-track prescriptions for medicinal
cannabis for those Western Australians who need it. As members would be aware
from constituent inquiries, that has been a fairly cumbersome process to date
because we do not have a Therapeutic Goods Administration clearance for the
vast majority of products on the market. As a result, we need special
arrangements in place so that people can access these frontier therapeutic
goods in a way that does not compromise their safety.
In April 2018, the Department of
Health joined other jurisdictions in Australia that followed the lead that the
Premier provided in approving work towards a single approval process for
medicinal cannabis products to be managed by the Therapeutic Goods
Administration. I am pleased to say that the new online system was launched in Western
Australia on 2 October this year.
This means that those people who
previously had to wait potentially up to three weeks to access medicinal cannabis
can now do so in under 48 hours, achieving the clearances they need to gain
through both the federal authorisation process and the state process. Prior to
this introduction, prescribers were required to complete and submit paper forms
to the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the state Department of Health
separately and that, as I said, created some significant delays.
The prescribing of medicinal
cannabis rightly remains the responsibility of a qualified medical
professional. As I said, this is still a bit ahead of the medical research, and
for those people who require it—many do because they have chronic
conditions—it is important that they get it. This simply streamlines
the approval process. As I have been keen to stress with other people, it does
not resolve issues around price and availability. We have an emerging industry
with medicinal cannabis and many people are still struggling to get the
products they need at the quality they need. However, this is an important
first step. It means that for those people who have a chronic condition,
particularly epilepsy and other conditions that they want addressed, or who
have a terminal condition and think they would benefit from some pain
management or who have other issues that the cannabinoids can contribute to,
this is an important step to make sure that they have a smooth pathway to get
access to those products. This is an important step. I hope in the future we
will continue to provide therapy and relief for these patients. It is all about
our priority of putting patients first.
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