Victoria green lights cannabis for kids

Victoria will conduct a world-first trial to see whether the use of medicinal cannabis can reduce symptoms for children in palliative care.

Victoria will conduct a world-first trial to see whether the use of medicinal cannabis to reduce symptoms for children in palliative care.

​Victoria has signed off on a world-first study into the use of medicinal cannabis for children in palliative care. 

The Murdoch Children’s ­Research Institute will begin this year to explore the use of medicinal cannabis to reduce symptoms for children in palliative care who are suffering from conditions other than cancer. A joint funding effort between the state government and Victorian cannabis company Cannatrek, it complements a similar study under way in Queensland with childhood cancer patients. 

About 70 per cent of children in Victoria’s palliative care unit have conditions other than cancer, including severe cerebral palsy, neurodegenerative disorders and cardiac disease. The study was the first in the world to investigate how medicinal cannabis could help to reduce their pain, lead research Daryl Efron said. 

“In paediatric palliative care, life expectancy is often very difficult to predict,” he told The Oz. 

“They may be with us for weeks or months, or even years, and their symptoms can cause significant discomfort and pain. 

“Their quality of life is often very poor, and of course the parents want their kids to be as comfortable as possible for as long as possible.”

Parents have long been calling for the drug to be explored among child patients, Associate Professor Efron said. Currently,  medicinal cannabis is held to a different level of regulation to other medications. It’s typically unsubsidised, making it very expensive for families, and patients have to justify their need -- a task that is difficult without solid research. 

“In children, the best evidence we have is for certain types of epilepsy,” he said. “We want to do studies for other children where parents think medicinal cannabis may be helpful, and if it is helpful I’d like to see some of those regulatory barriers come down.” 

Recruitment will begin later this year to find 10 patients as young as six months old living with a life-limiting condition. Many will have had limited success with pain alleviators currently on the market, which often aren’t formulated for children or come with significant side-effects. 

Associate Professor Efron will oversee the study, working with parents and children to administer low doses of CBD or THC oil - doses low enough to reduce pain, anxiety and discomfort without getting patients high. 

In Australia, medicinal cannabis is approved for adults living with quite a few conditions, including multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, chemo-induced nausea and in palliative care. 

If Associate Professor Efron can prove it’s similarly helpful among children, it would be a treatment breakthrough, he said. 

“Some people have expectations that it will be a miracle drug, and unfortunately it won’t be,” he said. 

“Still, we’re very hopeful. We know parents want to explore this option, and we think there may be a place for medicinal cannabis in paediatric palliative care. We just need more research to evaluate what that place might be.”