Medical cannabis protest outside Queensland Health Building against medical cannabis State approval process.
Shortly after setting up outside the Queensland Health building, the Director General invited us inside to discuss our concerns over the State approval process for Lindsay's SAS application.
The Director General advised that Lindsay's doctor will not be given a decision until the end of next week because his staff needed more time to assess the application and were going to contact Lindsay's doctor for further information.
Queensland Health have had Lindsay's application for 12 months, and it ihas been 4 months since Cabinet changed State laws in November and December to allow access to medical cannabis via the SAS. That has been ample time to work out this process but they are still well off the mark!
Queensland Health are of the mindset that the assessment of the SAS Category B application submitted by Lindsay's doctor and the approval that he has been granted from the TGA is only for the medical cananbis to be imported into the country. This is incorrect as this his doctor has been granted approval to prescribe and treat Lindsay with the same treatment that he was recommended when he was in the US in 2014.
The TGA have already undertaken a rigorous assessment of the doctor's suitability to prescribe cannabis, and Lindsay's medical conditions, as well as assessing the specified cannabis products and the supplier, The TGA have agreed with Lindsay's doctor that there is clinical justification to use the specified medical cannabis treatment as the treatment is not available here in Australia but Q Health are now duplicating that assessment process.
The import licence approval is a separate application altogether and cannot be carried out until the import section of the TGA receive notification from Queensland Health that the pharmacist and Lanai's posseesion, supply and use of the cannabis is lawful under state law and is not in contravention of state law.
We suggested that Q Health contact the TGA to clarify what the Federal assessment process entails and to work with them, patients and the doctors to ensure that the State process is streamlined to prevent any further delay.
We also suggested that if the State are to assess a doctor's suitability to treat patients using cananbis in the manner they propose then it should be a one off assessement and not something that needs to be done for every single patient and prescription.
While we were pleased that the DG meet with us, we are not pleased that Lindsay has to wait another week - State approval should be a formality not an inquisition.
Our concerns have not been alleviated as they have not been listening and have kept patients and carers out of the decision making process for far too long which is becoming very insulting giving that we are talking about our health and our loved ones lives.
So at this stage we are still going to the Supreme Court for a Judge to determine questions of law and whether all or certain parts of the administrative process being undertaken by Queensland Health are relevant; are causing undue delay and are a denial of natural justice.
We still have along way to go to ensure that patients come first before politics and profits.