Batemans Bay doctor John Franzi’s support for the legalisation of medicinal cannabis will take him to Tamworth this Friday for a symposium that will debate the drug’s medical use.
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The symposium follows state premier Mike Baird’s public support for finding a way to use cannabis as a medical treatment for illnesses such as cancer. The symposium will host a range of Australian and overseas health and legal experts.
Earlier this year, Nationals MP for Tamworth Kevin Anderson drafted a private members bill to allow terminally ill patients to use cannabis.
Mr Baird later announced the NSW government would run clinical trials of the drug. Trial findings would be reported to the government by the end of the year.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott also has thrown his support behind the planned trial.
Despite welcoming dialogue on the issue, Dr Franzi, who has practised alternative medicine for 34 years, is cynical about the motives behind it and pessimistic about the possible outcome.
“The drug companies put up barriers to stop the medical use of cannibinols by saying they will get government support and hold a trial, which will allow patients 10 grams a week, so they can then say ‘we tried and failed’,” he said.
He does not believe the symposium will lead to the legalisation of medicinal cannabis.
“No, they’ll crush it, and its use will continue as it is on the black market,” Dr Franzi said.
“Doctors are scared of competition, and only a small percentage of them, like one per cent, believe this is a valid treatment protocol.”
He believes that the evidence is compelling that cannabis can, and has been, used successfully to treat brain tumours in children.
“It has been proven; the evidence is there,” he said.
“A large number of children have been successfully treated this way when conventional medicine did not work. It has been done by parents in desperation.
“They are told their children only have weeks to live, and so they try it and 18 months later the child is going strong and the tumour is going.”
Dr Franzi said he knew of two children currently being treated for brain tumours in Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne whose parents were being told by doctors to continue to use medicinal cannabis.
Dr Franzi said he did not prescribe medical cannabis for patients at either his Batemans Bay or Canberra practices.
For more information on the symposium, go to www.unitedincompassion.com.au/program.html.
