Medicinal cannabis
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:39): My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. A recently published Canadian study found that regular cannabis use can have therapeutic and harm reduction applications and lead to a reduction in opioid use for chronic pain management. The survey, conducted over eight years, tracked people who use unregulated opioids to manage chronic pain. It found that those using cannabis were able to reduce their opioid use by around 50 per cent. Researchers cite the ability of cannabis compounds to activate opioid receptors in the brain, leading to the release of endogenous opioids and enhanced pain relief. The study highlights the potential for reducing the harms associated with opioid use and shows the need for further research. I ask the minister: has the government considered conducting or encouraging similar research in this field of harm reduction?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:40): I thank Mr Ettershank for his question. It is quite a detailed question, but I appreciate where you are coming from, and I do certainly think that emerging therapies and research into these issues are very important. What I say in response at a kind of high level is that to help us better understand and respond to these sorts of challenges and to emerging issues in the AOD space, we are developing, as I am sure you are aware, a statewide AOD strategy. I have got no doubt that that work will heavily feature emerging therapies, research and harm reduction. As you know, we have also appointed Victoria’s first chief addiction medicine adviser, the very excellent Dr Paul MacCartney, which is an easy name to remember. I am not actually familiar with this Canadian study that you are raising – I have not been briefed on that – but what I can offer to do, if it is helpful, is take the detail of your question on notice and ask Dr MacCartney to provide me with a little bit of advice that I might be able to provide back to you in the form of a written response.
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:41): Thank you, Minister, and thank you for that very generous offer – I do appreciate it. Drug overdose is a major cause of preventable death and the leading cause of death amongst people who inject drugs across the world. Opioids have continued to be the largest contributor to drug-induced deaths over the past two decades, with numbers steadily rising. The Victorian government’s statewide action plan highlights that alternative therapies, such as pharmacotherapy, lead to high rates of retention in treatment, with sustained reductions in the use of illicit heroin and other drugs, plus marked health and social improvements, including reductions in criminal activity. Given the promising results of the Canadian study, and I think other studies, will the government consider including cannabis as part of its pharmacotherapy strategy to reduce the harms of opioid overdose in Victoria? I am cognisant that that in part overlaps with your previous answer.
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:42): I thank Mr Ettershank for that. As I said in my substantive answer, it is an interesting area, and one that is obviously exercising people’s minds when it comes not only to the AOD strategy development, but also you would be aware that we have got a number of elements to the statewide action plan which go to pharmacotherapy. We will be expanding access to treatment. We will have naloxone-dispensing units out across the state. We will be trialling Australia’s first overdose prevention and response helpline, and we will be trialling, at 244 Flinders Street, a very large hydromorphone trial. There is work going on – (Time expired)