By Luke Voogt
Tony Ansett will “never know” if medicinal cannabis could have helped his wife, who died of breast cancer in 2011.
“It might have helped her manage the pain better,” he told The Indy Monday. “I guess we’ll never know.”
The former councillor will campaign for medicinal cannabis for people with terminal illnesses and chronic pain when he runs for council later this year.
“I can’t understand for the life of me why it isn’t already available,” he said. “There’s people out there suffering acute pain.”
Mr Ansett urged the Victorian Government to expand medicinal cannabis trials to include people with cancer.
“I think it needs to happen and it needs to happen real fast,” he said.
“I had to go through a tragedy to understand that.
“But what they’re doing (so far) is positive and they’ve got to be congratulated.”
In February the State harvested its first crop for trials on children severe epilepsy. But Mr Ansett said it needed to increase production “straightaway” to expand its use.
“I can’t imagine it taking a long time to grow.”
Mr Ansett’s late wife Anna battled breast cancer for three years before dying in 2011.
“The pain that you see your loved one go through is massive,” he said. “It’s a long time for the family and everyone to go through the fight.”
Anna took Oxycodone, a powerful opiate painkiller, during her treatment, but Mr Ansett believed medicinal cannabis could have improved her last months.
“Everything’s worth a try,” he said.
“You hope they’ll get better – you pray for that every second of every day.
“(Medicinal cannabis) wasn’t something that was on the scene at the time. Otherwise I would have been desperate for some.”
Mr Ansett said he would lobby governments “every chance I get”.
“I hope what I’m telling you can help someone else. You do get a lot of chances in local government to speak to the State.”
There is evidence medicinal cannabis can relieve nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy and treat moderate to severe pain, according to Cancer Council Australia.
But the council also notes there is no evidence yet it can treat the actual cancer.
State Government has flagged expanding the availability of medicinal cannabis into areas like palliative care when it grows additional crops.
It will expand the usage on the advise of its Independent Medical Advisory Committee and the Victorian Law Reform Commission.
