Investors have begun sizing up Canberra as a likely base for a multimillion dollar medical cannabis industry they believe could be up and running within six months of getting the green light from the ACT government.
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States and territories across Australia are currently reviewing their cannabis laws following a wave of public interest in the issue, spurred on in part by major private donations to research into the medical potential of the drug and a growing list of countries now operating large-scale medical cannabis programs.
An ACT Legislative Assembly committee is due to report in the coming weeks on a Greens Bill that if passed would allow sufferers of a number of conditions to grow a limited number of plants in their homes or to authorise another person to make and process the medication for them.
Curus Medical managing director Andrew McCrea said the ACT was shaping up as the most likely place to establish a major cannabis growing, processing and distribution business. His company is also on the verge of announcing a major cannabis research collaboration with the University of Canberra and the Australian National University that would complement clinical trials already announced at the University of Sydney.
"We want to work with the ACT government to develop a fully integrated medicinal cannabis system. In the ACT you've got two really good universities there, Curus is a long way down the track in working with them on research collaboration into cannabis research. We have found the ACT to be the most receptive jurisdiction so far," Mr McCrea said.
Mr McCrea said his company was awaiting the outcome of the Legislative Assembly's deliberations on a medical cannabis bill but had international partners ready to begin investing in research programs, as well as large-scale growing, cultivating and distribution systems as soon as the legislative environment made it possible.
His interest in the crop had come from a quest to find a cure for his wife Jane's fibromyalgia, a debilitating muscle condition that left her bed-ridden in severe pain. After failing to find relief from conventional medications he had become aware of patients in the United States, Canada and elsewhere experiencing encouraging results from use of cannabis medication.
"While we don't support a grow-at-home model, we would be looking to work closely with the ACT government on a distribution model that would allow those suffering from a range of conditions to access cannabis medication in the same way that is already available in a number of other countries," Mr McCrea said.
ACT Greens leader and justice minister Shane Rattenbury said the cannabis market presented a huge economic opportunity for the ACT that would be helping gravely-ill members of the community at the same time.
"Tasmania has a poppy industry to provide the medical industry, why couldn't the ACT do exactly the same thing with medical grade cannabis? If we were to put all the right protections in place it's just as valid a crop to be grown here as an industry export crop as anything else we might do in the territory," Mr Rattenbury said.
