Lanai Carter taking legal action against Queensland Department of Health

It's about time someone stood up to the TGA and Health Dept and finally a courageous mother has done just that.
The government setup the "Federal TGA special Access scheme" for those with special needs to allow access to medical cannabis when nothing else could do the trick, we're talking seriously sick people.
MedicalMarijuana.com.au has received many emails from similar cases to Lindsay's and whilst feeling very helpless, have referred them to the "Federal TGA special Access scheme"
Knowing full well the difficulties and red tape they would need to endure to actually procure medical cannabis, specifically for their needs.
Little did we know or could concieve the process could take 8 months. These people don't have time on their side, they need help now/yesterday. There's mountains of anecdotal evidence suggesting cannabis shrinks tumors and kill cancer cells and It's not just anecdotal but also pre-clinical studies.
The government, is so worried that medicinal cannabis will spill over into recreational use.
Well let it be known that those who wish to use cannabis recreationally are already doing it and will continue to do so with or without government permission, this has being going on for quite some time now.
The only difference is that full legalization of cannabis would allow real cannabis education and scientific research. It would also criple criminal activity, if prices were dropped (which should be the case if legalised)
You want to win the WAR ON DRUGS ? legalise it and then educate about the real effects of cannabis use, treat it as a health issue and not as a crime.
Sure, no matter how well you educate, there will always be someone on a self destructive path, but alcohol does a much better job than cannabis if that's your goal, a proven fact.
I applaud the Carter family for initially signing up for the "TGA's special Access scheme" and attempting to play by the rules, but I take my hat off for taking legal action. You deserve to be extremely well compensated for the TGA's and health depts seemingly inept abilities to help terminally ill patients.
But more importantly, I hope Lindsay gets better.

Now for the story; from the Queensland Times

LINDSAY Carter spent Good Friday in Logan Hospital.

The 17-year-old, who has a brain tumour, had suffered a major seizure.

Twelve months ago his mother Lanai Carter sought to facilitate a Special Access Scheme Category B Application for Lindsay’s specific medicinal cannabis products to be prescribed by his Australian medical practitioner, as recommended by his United States physicians.

On February 26 Lindsay’s SAS-Category B application was approved by the TGA.

The problem for Lindsay is he has yet to receive the State Health Director General’s approval, which will see the products with which his tumour has been treated in the United States with staggering success, delivered to an Australian pharmacy.

When Lindsay was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 14, it was deemed too risky to operate due to the location of the tumour in his brain.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy were also considered too dangerous.

The family has travelled to the United States on four separate occasions where Lindsay’s tumour and seizures were treated successfully with medicinal cannabis.

With no access to prescribed medication in Australia, Lindsay has suffered multiple seizures.

With his health steadily deteriorating before her eyes, and as the family anxiously waits on the relevant state approvals to come through, Ms Carter has now made the decision to commence legal action against the Queensland Department of Health.

Last week Ms Carter, her son and lawyer convened a meeting with the Director General.

“I cannot say we were satisfied enough with the meeting because every day that our son’s medicine is delayed he is at risk of further seizures and deterioration and his life is put at risk,” Ms Carter said.

“While we are now more confident that state approval will be issued next week, the process is still taking too long because Queensland Health are complicating and delaying access by duplicating the federal TGA treatment approval process that Lindsay’s doctor has already been through.

“So having them tell us that they were working on completing this process as quickly as possible and hoping to have it all finalised by the end of next week was of little relief to us, after only having been in hospital on Friday with Lindsay.”

While Ms Carter acknowledges that Lindsay is not only the first patient in Queensland but in Australia to access medical cannabis from overseas through the legal channels, it doesn’t make the wait any easier with his life at constant risk due to seizures and the brain tumour.

“Our son has already endured an 11-month wait for an approval from the Federal TGA special Access scheme. “That process was cumbersome, lengthy, and tortuous to say the least,” she said.

“While the government might finally may be appearing to do something on the surface to fix a problem with our country’s legislation surrounding medical cannabis, on the other hand they over-regulate to the point where it causes unnecessary hardship, delay, expense and stress on the people in this country that need it the least.

“We will not tolerate further unnecessary delays to the application at a state level due to their duplicative processes that have already been completed by TGA at a federal level.

The TGA had already determined Lindsay’s medical right for his doctor to prescribe his medication and its suitability in Lindsay’s case.

Through the application process an extensive review of the licencing, certificates of analysis for the specific medical cannabis products, as well as quality control surrounding the supply from Canada has been completed. However, after the introduction of the state’s Medical Cannabis Bill in February, the Carters were advised that they would need to submit an application to the state.

“The frustrating thing is that this state process is based on a state bill that’s only just been proposed, a bill that’s not even been debated through parliament and most likely won’t even come into legislation until later this year. Yet they want to make my son’s application go through this proposed process before it’s even in law yet,” Ms Carter said.

The Public Health (Medical Cannabis) Bill, if passed, will formalise the process for Queensland doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis for their patients’ treatment.

Doctors will be able to access medicinal cannabis and will require the same TGA approval that took the Carters 11 months to receive. “Terminally ill patients shouldn’t have to wait weeks or months for approval.

“Everyday Australians are being forced to become criminals to save the lives and ease the suffering of their loved ones.”