The broken Australian cultivator begs forbearance on behalf of science

An Australian breeder claims that his cannabis cultivation should be allowed for research purposes.

It’s a topic familiar to any lawyer, if not a guardian, in any jurisdiction where cannabis is on the verge of becoming legal (and for any purpose). What role does the “informal” researcher play in further developing knowledge about the drug – especially when the investigation is not tied to a formal program?

Australian lawyer

This idea was recently put to the test in Queensland, Australia. Joshua James Waldron, who was caught in a search last September with 18kg of cannabis on his property, pleaded both leniency and guilty in his most recent conviction.

Waldron told the Brisbane court that he was growing his stash for medicinal purposes, giving it away to patients instead of selling it, and engaged in a “phenotype selection process” to create stable plants.

Despite noble intent, Waldron pleaded guilty to ever bringing charges of manufacturing and possession of dangerous drugs to justice. Not only did the Crown Prosecutor refer to the “sophisticated” property and facility, but the defendants ruled they did not repent the law – admitting that despite previous convictions for similar crimes, he continued to supply medicinal cannabis to literally hundreds of people.

The Fate of Lawyer Breeders During Legalization

This is a story that isn’t heard as often in North America, especially since the industry is mainstream, at least at the state level, but it wasn’t long ago since there have been similar cases. Perhaps the best-known current national case in the United States is the Harvey family facing federal drug charges. Washington state was legalized in 2014, which resulted in the legalization industry being separated from patient breeders.

In Europe, too, such proponents still face jail sentences – the most recent, more sensational case is Albert Tio, who was charged in Spain for organizing the club movement and lost his appeal at European level. In Germany, too, patient breeders continue to be prosecuted, including prison sentences.

The idea of ​​the advocate-cultivator-investigative cannabis scientist has not yet caught on in any legalizing market. Definitely not officially.

The need for more cannabis studies

Despite the indigenous nature of Waldron’s scientific endeavors, the reality that drives this activism is that there haven’t been enough medical cannabis studies – nowhere. Furthermore, patient access almost everywhere is one of the biggest problems in any country where cannabis is becoming legal even for medical reasons.

What complicates the bigger picture is that formal medical studies that are accepted and developed by the pharmaceutical industry are expensive and, for the most part, outside the purview of the “average” sick person who regularly seeks such treatment – especially for those with rare diseases. Cannabis was largely removed from the development of the formal pharmaceutical industry, which developed mainly during the demonization of the plant in the 1930s.

In the meantime, patients are largely excluded, especially if they are poor or have rare diseases and are not receiving formal medical care.

The role of the advocate cultivator

One of the most fascinating aspects of modernizing the cannabis study equation is using technology to develop hybrid programs. In the past (for example, during the AIDS crisis), the legality of cannabis as a medicine has fueled compassionate programs and experiments that emerged from the rare formal medical studies.

In the legalizing medical and hybridization markets of Europe (see Germany, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Portugal) as well as Great Britain, the governments are starting to set the parameters of the studies that have existed here since 2017.

However, these are more similar to traditional pharmaceutical studies – namely because they have to.

One of the more interesting national experiments outside Europe may create a more open paradigm depending on the success of the program. In Thailand, from the legalizing countries alone, local farmers grow crops for medical care in local hospitals. This appears to be the first and only country procedure where this is the case.

Until the idea of ​​this paradigm spreads or is allowed to spread, there will continue to be experiments by patient representatives. And until either the legitimacy of this model is recognized, possibly with accepted procedures that create a scientific basis for it, the fate of such informal experimenters depends very much on the balance between taste and acceptance of cannabis by the legal system.