An innocent, four-year-old girl suffers daily seizures. Her parents look on, experiencing her pain vicariously, powerless. An old man lays in hospital, terminal, his final days are agony. The tragedy: both situations, apparently, are preventable, if only medicinal cannabis was legal.
These are familiar stories. These stories distinguish medicinal cannabis coverage from being yet another abstract, recurring news item, instead transforming it into a confronting, humanised issue. They tick all the right boxes. This is not another one of those stories.
A quick search of The Courier Mail and Sydney Morning Herald websites returns an abundance of stories matching this profile. With the federal Senate voting on Green’s leader Richard Di Natale’s …show more content…
Their views are easily misrepresented, dismissed as overly conservative, particularly with surnames like Christian. For starters, they don’t want to ban all drugs, medical or otherwise.
In fact, Mr Christian’s core message is of concern, rather than restraint. Concern that a startling number of politicians are ignorant to medicinal cannabis’ legal status. Concern over media coverage. Concern for the wellbeing of Australians.
If more cannabis derivative medicines are approved, he wants it to happen for the right reasons, under the right circumstances. To him, vague cries for medicinal cannabis to be legalised are insufficient without also considering the type of cannabis, and regulations to control its use.
This is a sentiment echoed by the most unlikely of people.
“I’m not sure, to tell you the truth,” is not the definitive, enthusiastic response one would expect from Michael Balderstone when the topic of national cannabis reform is broached.
If the fact that Mr Balderstone is president of Australia’s Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party doesn’t give his beliefs away, his relaxed, measured twang, betrayed only by the passion with which he speaks about cannabis related issues, drives it
These are familiar stories. These stories distinguish medicinal cannabis coverage from being yet another abstract, recurring news item, instead transforming it into a confronting, humanised issue. They tick all the right boxes. This is not another one of those stories.
A quick search of The Courier Mail and Sydney Morning Herald websites returns an abundance of stories matching this profile. With the federal Senate voting on Green’s leader Richard Di Natale’s …show more content…
Their views are easily misrepresented, dismissed as overly conservative, particularly with surnames like Christian. For starters, they don’t want to ban all drugs, medical or otherwise.
In fact, Mr Christian’s core message is of concern, rather than restraint. Concern that a startling number of politicians are ignorant to medicinal cannabis’ legal status. Concern over media coverage. Concern for the wellbeing of Australians.
If more cannabis derivative medicines are approved, he wants it to happen for the right reasons, under the right circumstances. To him, vague cries for medicinal cannabis to be legalised are insufficient without also considering the type of cannabis, and regulations to control its use.
This is a sentiment echoed by the most unlikely of people.
“I’m not sure, to tell you the truth,” is not the definitive, enthusiastic response one would expect from Michael Balderstone when the topic of national cannabis reform is broached.
If the fact that Mr Balderstone is president of Australia’s Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party doesn’t give his beliefs away, his relaxed, measured twang, betrayed only by the passion with which he speaks about cannabis related issues, drives it