Let me use cannabis: Gran

A Baldivis grandmother who has been prescribed a cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs for an aggressive carcinoid tumour says she would rather use medicinal marijuana to treat her cancer.

Julie, a mother of four who asked the Telegraph to withhold her surname, is angry lawmakers are denying sick people access to drugs that could ease their suffering.

Julie was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and had surgery to remove her colon, 1.5m of large intestine and 50cm of small intestine.

Despite the operation, the cancer developed into a carcinoid tumour in her adrenal aorta, a major artery along the back, and became inoperable and untreatable by chemotherapy.

Fortnightly injections of Sandostatin to stop the tumour spreading became Julie’s only option.

Julie is on the highest possible dose and says her body will soon become resistant to the drug and it will stop being an effective treatment.

She believes she will then become a guinea pig for various cancer treatments and wants to try using cannabis oil instead.

“I’m interested in how the oil affects cancer cells — I’d do anything to save my life,” she said.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration does not approve cannabis for therapeutic use in Australia but the recently reformed Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy and Law Reform has renewed debate about decriminalisation.

WA Hemp Party president Darren Guthrie said thousands of people around the world were using cannabis to help treat a variety of diseases and disorders.

Mr Guthrie said the oil form of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) starved cancer cells and was proven to destroy them effectively.

He said smoking cannabis relieved nausea, pain and revived appetite in those undergoing typical cancer treatments such as chemotherapy.

Australian Medical Association WA president Dr Michael Gannon said the association was open to clinical trials.

“If there is an active ingredient in marijuana which can be isolated and proven effective, it should be licensed,” he said.

WA Health Minister Dr Kim Hames said cannabis use for medical purposes was, at best, experimental.

“Legalising cannabis use would send the wrong message to the community and undermine efforts to reduce illicit drug use and the harm it causes,” he said.

Julie said it was ludicrous the Government allowed the use of addictive anti-inflammatories and painkillers to offset the painful side-effects of her treatments but did not allow a natural alternative.

“After the injection, the pain lasts for two days and I’m limping around the house,” she said.

“When it wears off, I lack motivation, get depressed and have bad cramps and pain, but I get sick of taking painkillers because it knocks me out and makes me drowsy.”

Julie’s husband Gavin said he would do anything to make her feel better and would support her use of cannabis.