Health minister Greg Hunt stating "cannabis is a gateway drug"

Recently I heard our health minister Greg Hunt stating "cannabis is a gateway drug". I think he should have stuck to being the Minister for Sport.
Personally, my first drug educed change of consciousness was drinking alcohol at a Christmas party at the age of 11, I snuck a few glasses of campaign from the Christmas table and vomited continually all night, I thought I was going to die, I must have vomited 20 or more times throughout the night.
When I say "snuck" the first glass was actually offered by the adults there, a common occurrence I'm sure.

And now onto this stupid article by the Shepparton News.

"The Victorian Government has ruled out legalising cannabis for recreational use.

‘‘We have no plans to decriminalise cannabis in Victoria,’’ a spokesperson from Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ office told The News.

‘‘Our priority is reducing the devastating harm caused by drugs.

Are we talking about cannabis?, which has been proven to be less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. ref to prof David Nutt's studies
Who has ever dies from cannabis use, name one soul.

‘‘That means giving people in the grips of addiction the treatment and support services they need, and ensuring dealers and traffickers are prosecuted.’’

Your so called justice has caused more harm than good and that's a fact.
If the pubic had a referendum tomorrow it would all be legal and you know it.
So are you working for self interest or the public's.
Your days of propaganda are over, smell the flowers and stop the lies.

"Kialla general practitioner John McKellar is opposed to legalising cannabis for recreational use on medical grounds, but appreciated harm reduction strategies for illegal drugs employed overseas.

Pointing to legalisation efforts in Portugal, the Netherlands and the United States, Dr McKellar said the harm associated with illegal drugs could be tackled by applying a medical approach, rather than law enforcement.

‘‘The experience in America with the prohibition of alcohol was a disaster,’’ Dr McKellar said.

And while Dr McKellar noted beneficial medicinal uses for cannabis, he criticised the large number of active ingredients, many of which remain unknown."

I have never heard of Dr McKellar and I doubt his knowledge of cannabis.
Cannabis has been legal in Holland, part of the US, Uruguay, Nimbin for decades without any deaths. Can you say the same about alcohol, tobacco or the plethora of dangerous pharmaceutical drugs available? the answer is a big whopping NO.
Your argument has no scientific basis. You are a GP, not a bio chemist or molecular biologist.
You know what you were taught and you weren't taught about cannabis, stick to your own field of expertise.

‘‘The thing about cannabis is (it’s) a weed that contains hundreds of different compounds ... some are good, some are bad.’’

Please refer to the bad ones?

"Isolating known compounds such as cannabinol, the most recognised active ingredient in cannabis, for medical use was very different to allowing anyone access to the unprocessed drug, Dr McKellar said."

Really? cannabinol is CBN, which is degraded THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). I think you mean CBD cannabidiol, not
cannabinol.
And even if you did mean cannabidiol, this is not the most recognised, THC has more receptors in the endocannabinoid system and greater therapeutic effects.
It's curing cancer.
Also, have you head of the entourage effect? Isolating compounds is not the way.

"The cannabis debate intensified last week after the Greens called for Federal law changes to legalise its use."

And Australia will be left in the worlds wake, bunch of idiots.
At the forefront of nothing but overpriced real estate.

"The path to legalising cannabis in Australia faces many hurdles.

Restrictions on cannabis involve federal and state laws, along with many international treaties signed by the Federal Government."

It's legal in totally California, Uruguay and Canada (commonwealth country) how hard can it be? Make it work and stop stalling, it's what your citizens want.
Have a referendum, we did if for gay marriage which has far less impact on the health of the nation.

"Without the support of the Labor or Liberal parties or both, it is highly unlikely any change will take place.

Both parties have ruled out legalising cannabis at all levels.

Costings by the federal parliamentary budget office suggested legalising cannabis would be worth about $2billion a year to the Federal Government."

And finally, I'm so sick of hearing about the economy, share prices.
Don't use cannabis as a scapegoat to fix your stuff ups.

"The figure is based on projected taxation revenue, licensing revenue and savings derived from reduced law enforcement efforts, but does not include associated health costs.

A street poll by The News in Shepparton found unanimous support for the medical use of cannabis and the majority supported its legalisation for recreational use."

Yep, surprise surprise. The only truth in this whole article.
I'm so sick of hearing crap from uneducated fools.
GP's are not educated in the field of cannabis, at least not at university.
You need to interview scientists, not GP's or specialists. These people deals there own drugs, which are proven to be way more harmful than cannabis and in many instances far less effective.

How about just using the following sentence to solve everything, like we've done with the gambling industry.

When using cannabis whether it be medical or recreational, use cannabis responsibly.

Hypocrites.