After years of hard work from advocates and medical professionals, it is now officially legal to grow, manufacture, and research medicinal marijuana products in Australia.
Fuckin’. Yiew.
This genuinely massive development comes by way of the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Act 2016. It’s come into affect today, after the Therapeutic Goods Administration greenlit medicinal marijuana’s reclassification in September.
Essentially, medicinal marijuana has been rescheduled from a prohibited substance to a controlled one, removing a hell of a lot of legal barriers keeping above-the-board manufacturers from doing their thing.
While recreational use is still prohibited (and probably will be for a long time), and states and territories still dictate who can use medicinal marijuana products, this change to federal guidelines could really open up the local industry.
Health Minister Sussan Ley effectively said that’s the point of the Act, and that it’s been a struggle for patients to attain medicinal marijuana products from overseas sources.
“These new laws change that situation by providing for a domestic supply of medicinal cannabis products that are not readily available for import.”
If you’re keen to break into the industry – and can prove you’re a legitimate operator with genuine intent – you’ll be able to apply for a cultivation license from tomorrow.
Source: The Guardian / ABC.
Photo: John Greim / Getty.
