THE Victorian Government would consider introducing drug interlocks for vehicles of illicit users, if and when technology produces an accurate and efficient device.

Such devices would have a major impact on road fatalities and follow the success of mandatory alcohol interlock devices for drink drivers. Victoria Police and VicRoads are open to considering the technology if it becomes available.

Police will conduct 100,000 roadside illicit drug swab tests this year — up from 42,000 — at a cost of about $35 per test.

An independent medical committee will oversee the roll out of medicinal cannabis in Victoria and advise on the next group of patients that will be given access the drug, the Andrews Government has said.

Medical marijuana is expected to be made available to children with severe epilepsy sometime next year, after the Government committed $28.5 million in this year's budget. 

The Government announced Professor James Angus would lead the medical advisory committee that will look at expanding the scheme to other cohorts.

Canberrans will be able to visit a 'medical cannabis information centre' in September as an advocacy group steps up its push to open a dispensary in the ACT where marijuana is sold from a shopfront, the group claims.

The Med Shed is made up of 80 medical cannabis advocates who have been working to establish a shopfront in Canberra since it formed in May.

The fight for access to cannabis medicine means a lot to Barry Lambert. His granddaughter suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. That is why this retired financial billionaire donated $33.7 million dollars to Sydney University. But his generosity might be money down the drain as Australian law looks to change.

Grow laws will kill research & the industry

Imagine the cost of bread and resultant social unrest if we had to grow wheat in a glass house because someone might use it to make alcohol.

Australian investors will soon be able to invest in the latest medical marijuana company set to list on the Australian stock exchange.

Creso Pharma is due to list on the ASX through an initial public offering, with the company seeking to raise $5m upon listing to primarily fund the development of its technologies and products.

The global medical marijuana market is projected to be worth $270 billion, with the Australian market tipped to be valued at $50 billion by 2018.

From today, some doctors in New South Wales can prescribe medical cannabis products to patients, but don’t expect to wander into your GP complaining of a tummy ache and leave with a bag of weed. 

It’ll be way more complicated than that.

Medical cannabis campaigner Lucy Haslam says today’s changes are necessary, but fears the process is too complicated and chronic pain sufferers are excluded. 

Who prescribes

NSW Health Minister Pru Goward told ABC it's likely only specialists will be able to prescribe.

"Doctors who are familiar with the literature," she said.

These doctors will need to ask both state and federal bodies for permission every time they want to prescribe the drug to a new patient.

A long-anticipated loosening of the availability of medicinal cannabis is expected to offer new treatments and choice for a range of patients.

New South Wales doctors can legally prescribe medicinal cannabis for their patients from Monday when new regulations come into effect.

Under the amendments to the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods regulations, cannabis-based medications will be available to a range of people for whom more mainstream treatments are not effective.

Cannabis-based medicines were previously only available to patients enrolled in clinical trials in NSW, but Premier Mike Baird said under the regulatory changes the drugs could be prescribed for patients who have exhausted standard treatment options.

A Riverina woman who turned to cannabis to deal with crippling pain has joined a chorus of campaigners calling for an amnesty on patients using medical cannabis.

Griffith veterinary nurse Kelly Cameron said patients “absolutely” needed an amnesty from prosecution.

“Without it they’re completely in pain,” she said. “You wind up having to be a criminal to be a productive member of society.”

Ms Cameron said a friend of hers was about to go to prison in Western Australia simply for trying cannabis oil for pain relief. The oil has no psychoactive properties, meaning patients can’t use it to get ‘high’.

“People want to take care of their health but at the moment they have to live illegally,” she said. 

The woman behind a push for medicinal cannabis says it is important to make sure Australia takes the lead on research and does not let international companies capture the market for profit.

The New South Wales Government on Sunday announced it was the first state authorised to conduct cultivation research, after the Federal Government in October announced it would legalise the growing of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

State Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said the research would lay the foundations for future non-government cultivation.

It was a close family member’s battle with serious illness that inspired Sydney entrepreneur Adam Miller to create his new business.

Miller saw her go in and out of hospital for six years, and after researching the impact of medical marijuana, decided that it could help. But there was one big problem: it still wasn’t legal in Australia.

“I did enough research to believe that this medicine would suit her nicely and would really help her,” Miller tells StartupSmart.

“But she’s very conservative and until it’s made legal, she isn’t going to consider it.”