Magistrate calls for drug law reform

[StonyGeoff]

A Mt Barker magistrate is challenging the State Government to make it legal for people suffering from chronic pain to use cannabis.
Clynton Johansen made the call while sentencing a 59-year-old Balhannah man earlier this month for growing and possessing the drug to self-medicate the symptoms of long-term fibromyalgia.
And he backed his statement outside the court by telling The Courier that it was time for Parliament to change the laws.
"We in this State have always been leaders in the law and this is changing the law, decriminalising the use of cannabis in limited situations, changing the law for medicinal purposes," he said.
My Johansen estimates 5-10% of his court work in Mt Barker is drug related and he sees "20 to 25 people a year" who use the analgesic and sleep inducing properties of cannabis to treat symptoms of terminal and chronic conditions.
He said people used cannabis because the side effects were less severe than some mainstream medications. The drug would have to be made available on the advice of medical professionals and either grown commercially or set aside from police raids.
Legalising cannabis in some circumstances was an option he had been mullling over for some time, he said, but the case of Colin Lindner brought the issue into the open.

Mr Lindner was a typical example of an appropriate circumstance, according to the magistrate.
He was an older man with no criminal history who developed a debilitating condition that eventually robbed him of his business and his lifestyle.
"He stood in front of me in absolute pain," Mr Johansen said.
"... I thought here's a man who really needs some help."
"I also know a lot of judges and magistrates believe it as well but only in mimited situations."
Mr Johansen said his law reforms did not extend to recreational use for "young people" who he believed were at risk from the psychiatric illnesses associated with the "bad chemicals" in cannabis.
He said the Labor Party in SA had a legacy as "social innovators", particularly during the era of Premier Donald Dunstan.
"We've certainly fallen a long way behind all those years," he said. "Maybe this is something that needs change?"
My Johansen won't have the support of local Liberal MPs Isobel Redmond and Mark Goldsworthy.
Ms Redmond, the Member for Heysen and Shadow Attorney General, said party policy opposed legalising cannabis because it was harmful and because the Australian Medical Association did not support the drug's use for pain relief in any circumstance.
However, she would be prepared to look at the issue if the medical profession said there was evidence it could be beneficial for certain people.
Mr Goldsworthy, the Member for Kavel, said even in a conscience vote he wouldn't back a move to decriminalise the drug for medicinal purposes.
A spokesman for Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said the Government maintained a tough stance against controlled substances.


Excerpt from The Courier
Author: Genevieve Cooper
Website: The Courier :: Newspaper of the Adelaide Hills since 1880
Contact: The Courier :: Personnel