Dagga takes root in Oz
– At a secret location in Australia’s southeast, Peter Crock delicately tends to a two-month-old cannabis cutting.
Barely knee-high, it is one of about 50 government-sanctioned “mother plants” to be cloned for future generations of crops in the country’s fledgling medicinal dagga industry.
“I think we’ll see Australia punch above its weight, both in agriculture research as well as medical technology,” says Crock, the chief executive of Cann Group Limited, the firm granted Australia’s first commercial grower’s licence.
“As different conditions come online, we are going to see the market grow rapidly,” he said.
Following Canada, Israel, and more than half the US states who, through varying approaches have legalised medicinal marijuana (dagga), Australia has signalled its intention for a homegrown industry.
But a patchwork of regulations that guard access for many desperate patients and a lack of confidence among doctors in prescribing the drug are acting as impediments.
While recreational marijuana use remains illegal in Australia, laws passed last year permit medical use, with a dozen licences since issued, ranging from cultivation and research to manufacturing.
At least 10 sector-related firms have listed on Australia’s stock exchange, while tens of millions of dollars have been pledged for clinical trials for treatment of conditions such as epilepsy, and for areas like palliative medicine.
Driven by a growing recognition of treatment for chronic pain, arthritis and migraines, the global market is estimated at billions of dollars – with the US, Canada and Israel leading the way.
But unlike those, Australia has a “very conservative government” that wants a regulatory framework in place up front, says Adam Miller, founder of medical cannabis start-up BuddingTech.
Doctors remain guarded, citing limited scientific proof. But others are optimistic about the plant’s potential. – AFP