Long-time medicinal cannabis critic Professor Michael Vagg has claimed the medicine’s growth in Australia is more worrying than the opioid epidemic in comments slammed as “grotesque” and “inappropriate” by industry leaders.
Vagg, Dean of the Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, told the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) the boom in medicinal cannabis prescriptions was “ethically more concerning” than that of opioids, which he said have proven to be effective in treating pain.
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I have known Professor Vagg for 30-odd years. Professor Vagg is not anti-medicinal cannabis per se, rather he is all for good medicine, good science and evidence-based decisions.
This is disappointing by howling down individuals who raise a cautionary and perhaps even dissenting voice. No mention of the author Liam Mannix, or Professor Rachelle Buchbinder.
The point is the same as ever – the lack of evidence in efficacy and the lack of evidence in safety.