Medical marijuana could be available on Coast in weeks

Medical marijuana could soon be available on the Coast. MEDICAL marijuana, which could provide relief to patients like eight-year-old like Suli Peek, could be legally available on the Sunshine Coast within weeks.

Medifarm, the company poised to create a $100 million medical marijuana industry on the Sunshine Coast, is optimistic it will have the approvals in place by March to sell the product.

This will be when the law has been changed to make the production and supply of medical marijuana legal in Queensland.

Medifarm's Adam Benjamin said Sunshine Coast production of the healing oil would probably only be ready mid-year.

Adam Benjamin of Medifarm. But he was optimistic he would be able to source an international product to act as a "stopgap" and supply families until the Coast was ready to go to market. Suli Peek's father, Steve, said his marijuana oil supply would run out in days after the South Australian raid at the beginning of January. The marijuana oil had been easing Suli's severe epileptic seizures and, without it, he feared she might die.

Terminally ill eight-year-old Suli. Mr Benjamin realised there were many patients like Suli desperate for a source of supply amidst tough police crackdowns. He said the South Australian operation wasn't the only one closed in recent week. "There was another (raided) in Newcastle two or three weeks ago," he said. He believed the government may be looking to stamp out suppliers who were not going through the proper licensing process. But Medifarm was optimistic its "initial approvals" would come through "by the end of the month". "Then they ask you to build the facility and do what you need to do for final approval," he said. He said the company aimed to source a product from overseas until its own production was ready. Then Medifarm would be ready to provide "the best international product grown on Sunshine Coast to international standards". He said he felt for families like Suri who were in limbo until the legal framework was in place. "What do you choose? Where do you go now?" he asked. "There are real people behind all these big deals and that's very important. "Medifarm will try its best to bring in a batch, hopefully as a stopgap measure, until we have production from Australia." http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/medical-marijuana-could-be-available-on-coast-in-w/3131597/