The use of medicinal cannabis to treat Australian patients is a widely contested issue, despite the immense benefits it provides to patients.
The upcoming Hemp Health and Innovation Expo will encourage audiences to learn about health benefits and innovative projects surrounding medicinal cannabis from professionals in the field. The event will provide an unusual space for audiences to question medicinal cannabis experts about the controversial treatment, which is not yet prominent in Australia, but is readily becoming available.
Australian pharmacist Paul Mavor is one of the leading researchers into the impacts and benefits of medicinal cannabis. He will be speaking at the expo. His research focuses on how medicinal cannabis can treat or relieve sufferers of chronic pain, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia:
“Pharmaceutical opioids until now have been the main treatment for chronic pain, and in most cases are good for acute pain. For chronic (long term) pain they are largely ineffective, simply don’t work and are easy to overdose on. The evidence is that cannabis works for chronic pain. For Alzheimer’s and dementia there are no other treatment options for these patients.”
Mavor’s research emphasises the need for alternative medications to help treat diseases that have been deemed untreatable. He says that despite having a pharmacy stocked with drugs, none will help his patients in the long term.
He owns Health House International, the first company in Australia to be granted an import license for cannabis. He expects Australian support of medicinal cannabis to become stronger over the next three to five years, as more research produces evidence and it becomes a more socially trusted medication.
“Australian hospitals will start to subsidise [medicinal cannabis]. Certainly private health insurers will see an economic benefit, which will be keeping patients out of hospital. I think a lot of those teething problems in the industry will be taken care of very soon.”
Mavor will be one of the key speakers at the Expo. He will be talking about a range of subjects related to the use of medicinal cannabis. These subjects include safety data, broad clinical evidence, and the research and results from the use of cannabis in a medical space so far:
“It’s important to see what we’re doing in Australia as far as the industry but also look overseas as some of these countries have been doing this a long time.”
The Hemp Health and Innovation Expo will take place in Sydney on May 12th and 13th. It will provide an opportunity to raise awareness and inform audiences on the uses of cannabis in different industries.