The good news for sufferers of many maladies is that Cannabis Oil became legally available at pharmacies - from yesterday. The bad news is that you can not expect to find any on sale, because none has been actually approved for sale, and that can be a long time into the future.
For decades, courageous doctors have been experimenting to determine the benefits Cannabis oil can bring, and because it has been classed as a harmful drug they have been risking both their reputation and their liberty.
Cannabis oil is obtained from the Marijuana plant and this fairly innocuous herbicide got swept up and made illegal in the drug frenzy of the 1960's. It faces similar vilification to Heroin and when smoked produces a " high " that is similar to alcohol but without the lack of coordination that often results in injury.
Marijuana is now a legal product in many parts of the world, sold openly and enjoyed by the masses, but here it receives the main input of police drug investigations. The Cannabis oil derived from Marijuana does not produce a high and is in many ways a " wonder drug " that successfully treats many maladies.
Illegal supplies reaching doctors have been used to successfully treat anxiety, insomnia, post traumatic stress disorder and pain generally. It also shows signs of alleviating inflammatory arthritis. Several commercial producers of Cannabis oil have crops with official sanctions, but so far no end product has received the necessary license to go on legal sale.
One of the reasons that is so is opposition from that same medical profession that has discovered its many benefits. The proposal is to allow Cannabis oil to be sold over the counter - without the need for a prescription - in quantities up to 150 ml's a day.
The medical profession is fighting, tooth and nail to hold on to its monopoly of wielding the pen to write all and every prescription to safeguard their income. It is possible the nation may face a general election late this year and the politicians are reluctant to license a product that may antagonise doctors and also hand their political opposition a claim that they are " soft on drugs ".
We have the ridiculous situation that the illegal drug industry is supplying Cannabis oil to where it is medically needed, forcing up the price because of the risk factor, and making a healthy profit on these transactions. The licensed growers in Australia are prevented from selling their crop and may eventually go broke if this stalemate is allowed to continue indefinitely.
It seems that yesterday, Cannabis oil was officially named a legitimate product, to be available from chemist shops without a prescription, but legal finicking will ensure it is not available. We seem to have reached an impasse beyond reason !
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