SYDNEY, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The New South Wales(NSW) State Government in Australia has begun production trials of medical cannabis, local officials said on Tuesday.
Although the substance remains illegal down under, the state is hoping to support the safe supply of the drug to patients who suffer from crippling diseases such as cancer.
With a new high-security facility to conduct in depth studies, NSW Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall said that the operation will help fill critical knowledge gaps about growing medicinal cannabis in local conditions.
"The NSW Government was the first in Australia to receive authorization from the Commonwealth to cultivate medicinal cannabis for research purposes," he said.
"The research is being conducted at a new 2 million Australian dollars(1.43 million U.S. dollars), state-of-the-art facility in a high security location in rural NSW and will be conducted in accordance with strict provisions and regulations set by the Commonwealth Government," he said.
Consulting with industry collaborator, Cann Group, the state will focus specifically on eight "high-value lines" of the drug.
"Our aim is to determine the best growing conditions to produce the safest and most useful crops for patients," Marshall said.
"Another focus will be developing practices to ensure crops are produced throughout the year with consistent levels of therapeutic compounds," Marshall said.
The NSW Government have also invested a further 21 million Australian dollars (15.05 million U.S. dollars) to build an evidence base to better understand the therapeutic potential of cannabis medicines.
Part of this money has been secured for medical usage trials. Enditem
