The South Australian government has been too slow to open up access to medicinal cannabis, some of the state’s crossbench MPs say.
Members of the state’s upper house, from the Liberals, Greens, Nick Xenophon Team and Dignity Party, on Friday held a forum about the future of medicinal cannabis in SA.
The forum heard from consumers, doctors and those in the medicinal cannabis industry about the barriers preventing South Australians from accessing the drug.
Greens MP Tammy Franks said three months after medicinal cannabis become legal in SA, the state government had only produced a discussion paper.
“Actual patient access to legal medical cannabis in our state is still only a mirage,” she said.
“We have not a single authorised prescriber, we are still seeing sick, and suffering people made criminals.”
The Nick Xenophon Team’s John Darley said the forum was an important opportunity for the MPs to make sure they had heard all aspects of the debate, rather than just the views the government allowed at a recent roundtable.