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      Sandra Kanck

I olika omgångar har Sandra Kanck, parlamentsledamot för demokraterna i South Australia, låtit höra talas om sig. För ett par år sedan fick ett av hennes 'initiativ' stor uppmärksamhet var då hon i ett anfall av narkotikapolitisk okunnighet uttalade att ecstasy är en säker drog, och inför de lagförslag om mc-gäng som debatterades i 'House of Assembly i South Australia bjöd hon in medlemmar av mc-gängen Gypsy Jokers, Finks och Hells Angels till en genomgång av The Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Bill 2007. Kanck försvarade sin inbjudan med att det är rimligt att bjuda in de som berörs av lagstiftningen. Det kan vara intressant att notera att inga offer för sagda mc-gäng var inbjudna till genomgången.

Nu är Kanck igång igen och vill att rökning av marijuana för så kallade "medicinska" ändamål ska bli tillåtet. Med anledning av det tilltaget har Recovered Drug Users League (SA), dvs före detta missbrukare, skickat ut följande pressmeddelande:

MEDIA RELEASE

23^rd July 2008

CRUDE CANNABIS IS NOT A MEDICINE AND SANDRA KANCK KNOWS IT!

The Hon Sandra Kanck has today introduced a Bill into Parliament to legalise the use of crude

cannabis for so called „medicinal‟ purposes.

Her proposal is contrary to the long-held consensus amongst the scientific community that if any benefit is to be derived from cannabis it will be in the form of extracted or synthesized cannabinoids (active compounds found in cannabis) and not in the form you would buy on the  street corner.

"The scientific community long ago abandoned any notion of cannabis in its crude form being of medicinal benefit." said Recovered Drug Users League (SA)‟s spokesperson Ryan Hidden. "Reputable scientific bodies such as the Australian Medical Association and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have rightly rejected the use of crude cannabis for medicinal purposes."

The Australian Medical Association‟s formal position on the use of crude cannabis as a medicine is:

"The Australian Medical Association considers that smoking or ingesting a crude plant product is a harmful way to deliver cannabinoids."(1)

"In its crude form it has been shown to be either ineffectual or counterproductive or to induce side-effects that far outweigh any negligible benefit. Smoking cannabis is not modern medicine" said Ryan Hidden.

In overseas jurisdictions where crude cannabis has been made available it has been shown to be a front for illegitimate use. In a now infamous quote by Keith Stroup, from NORML, it was revealed that: "We will use the medical marijuana scam as a red herring to promote the legalisation of marijuana" (2)

.

Following the rejection by the United States House of Representatives of a pro-medical  marijuana measure, Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, stated that:

"I think that the hand is starting to get played out here. More and more people are realizing there is a con going on - that a lot of the people who are behind this aren't really interested in sick people who need medicine, they're interested in marijuana legalization  and they're playing on the suffering of genuinely sick people to get it." (3)

Many, who had previously supported „medical marijuana‟ on compassionate grounds, have lamented their involvement. Reverend Scott Imler, who was integral to the passage of California's medical marijuana law, has since stated:

"We created Prop. 215 so that patients would not have to deal with black market profiteers.

But today it is all about the money. Most of the dispensaries operating in California are

little more than dope dealers with store fronts." (4)

"International experience has shown that when crude cannabis is made available by prescription it becomes a front for its illegitimate use." said Ryan Hidden.

"To propose that crude marijuana be made available shows that either Sandra Kanck is naïve of the science or is an active participant in the „medical marijuana‟ lobby‟s agenda to legalise the use of cannabis under the guise of compassion.

"If Sandra Kanck truly cared for the genuinely sick she would stick to the science rather than venture into mythology."

The Food and Drug Administration, the United States equivalent of Australia‟s Therapeutic Goods Administration, has stated:

"No sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana  for general medical use." (5)

Determining what is made available for prescription in Australia is the role of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, not the role of a politician.

"It is the Therapeutic Goods Administrations role to determine on the science what should be made available for prescription, not a politician‟s," said Ryan Hidden. "Sandra Kanck is seeking to bypass the Therapeutic Goods Administration and to expose people to what has proven to be a dangerous drug.

"If extracted or synthesised cannabinoids are ever to be made available, it will be in the form of a capsule or nasal spray rather than crude cannabis that contains over 400 other compounds."

The Hon Sandra Kanck, who recently called for ecstasy to be made available to war veterans despite the protests of the Returned Services League and the Minister for Veteran‟s Affairs, has shown that she simply cannot be taken seriously when it comes to drugs.

"Sandra Kanck has proven once again that she simply cannot be taken seriously when it comes to illicit drugs", said Ryan Hidden.

(1)

http://www.ama.com.au/web.nsf/doc/WEEN-6WP6MH

(2)

http://www.eurad.net/research/Medical_Marijuana_Scam_page1.htm

(3)

http://pushingback.com/blogs/pushing_back/archive/2007/07/26/35093.aspx

(4)

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/factsht/medical_marijuana.html

(5)

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01362.html

For further information, please contact Ryan Hidden on +61 402 114 612

Torgny Peterson