Victorian MPs stumped over missing medicinal cannabis as government blames cost blowouts

The Andrews Government is being asked to explain where Victoria’s cannabis crops are going, as the Agriculture Minister admits the plan for a locally made medicinal product has been hit with added costs and delays.

Victoria’s taxpayer-funded medicinal cannabis program has been hit with delays and cost blowouts as state MPs question what has happened to recent harvests.

Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes has admitted a much-vaunted locally made product could be years away and has blamed it on the Commonwealth Government.

“Their regulatory requirements have made the development of the product far more complex than we had originally envisaged, and it has led to increased costs and some delays,” Ms Symes has told the Legislative Council.

“Obviously the (state) government product is undergoing stringent safety testing, as required by the TGA. As I understand, when pharmaceutical products are in development as a new product, it usually takes 10 years and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, so that is effectively what we are kind of dealing with. We are trying to speed it up.”

The Victorian Government has refused to reveal how much cannabis has been grown as part of their $28 million plan which began in 2016.

While admitting medicinal product could be a long way off, the Victorian Government has refused to reveal how much cannabis has been grown as part of their $28 million plan, which started in 2016.

Upper House Liberal Democratic Party MP Tim Quilty, who is pushing to legalise the drug to boost tourism in the state’s north, put the question to Health Minister Jenny Mikakos this week.

“The government has established cannabis production facilities but we are yet to see the goods. We know cannabis is being grown; we are just not sure what has happened to it Minister, where has our crop been going?” he said.

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The lack of information in Ms Mikakos’s answer prompted Reason MP Fiona Patten to also weigh in on the industry mystery, questioning the agriculture minister.

“Given the relatively quick growth cycle of this plant, this means that there is quite a stash somewhere … when will you have a product available to sick Victorians?”

With no locally produced product available, taxpayers continue to foot the bill for cannabis oil imported from Canada to treat children with severe epilepsy, under a state government scheme.

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