SA MP tables medical marijuana bill

[Octavo]

Cape Town - Terminally-ill IFP MP Mario Oriano-Ambrosini, who is stricken with late-stage lung cancer, says unconventional and illegal medical treatment has extended his life expectancy.

Briefing the media at Parliament on Thursday, he confirmed what he told MPs in the National Assembly the day before - that he was using marijuana, also known as dagga, medically.

<snip>

"I have asked the Minister of Health [Aaron Motsoaledi] to look into the matter," President Zuma said.

Sitting next to Oriano-Ambrosini at Thursday's briefing, advocate Robin Stransham-Ford, who revealed that he too had terminal cancer, said he had been briefed to mount a constitutional challenge against the laws making cannabis illegal.

"It's proposed to bring this matter to court in 2015," he said.

South Africa has long had a sizable Rastafari minority and cheap outdoor weed is easily available here (growing conditions are favourable). Although there has always been a small legalisation movement, this is first time that I'm aware of where someone has stood up in parliment and called for a debate on the issue. In fact they've gone further and proposed a new bill to allow medical use of marijuana.

South Africa is pretty conservative though - I wonder how the politicians will react to this. Clearly they were moved by the speech of this long-time MP and friend. Will this be enough for them to take on what is usually a political hot-potato, or will this be the last we hear of this bill?


http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/MP-tables-medical-dagga-bill-20140220-4

 

[DarthFishy]

It's an interesting event definitely.

What bothers me is that he also wants to include language in the bill (from what I can see) that will allow alternative, and potentially dangerous treatments, like the bicarbonate of soda treatment for cancer.

The last thing we need is government support of such treatments (I think we have enough scam 'medicine' being peddled in our country as is.

I support the legalisation of marijuana though.

 

[Octavo]

It's an interesting event definitely.

What bothers me is that he also wants to include language in the bill (from what I can see) that will allow alternative, and potentially dangerous treatments, like the bicarbonate of soda treatment for cancer.

The last thing we need is government support of such treatments (I think we have enough scam 'medicine' being peddled in our country as is.

I support the legalisation of marijuana though.

[derail]
Have you heard the radio ads by Motsoaledi advocating medical circumcision to reduce the risk of HIV transmission?
[/derail]

I'm really interested to see how/if the ANC deals with this. My own perception is that the electorate follows a bell curve on this issue with the majority ambivalent. If Zuma or the ANC sees this as a major addition to the fiscus in taxes they might just go for it. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part though.

 

[MikeG]

[derail]
Have you heard the radio ads by Motsoaledi advocating medical circumcision to reduce the risk of HIV transmission?
[/derail]......

Why is this rollie eyes material? There is good medical evidence in support of the efficacy of this.

 

[Octavo]

Why is this rollie eyes material? There is good medical evidence in support of the efficacy of this.

As much as I love rolleyes a good circumcision debate, I'd rather not derail this particular thread into another endless debate about circumcision.

I'm aware of the trials you are referring to however and lets just say that they aren't convincing and even if they are, conflating circumcision with safe sex in Africa is deadly.