Dr Andrew Katelaris

Dr Andrew Katelaris recalls being contacted by a 78-year-old patient soon after Dr Katelaris appeared in an episode of ABC TV’s Catalyst program discussing the medical use of marijuana.

“The patient was so desperate for help that she found my name in the White Pages and rang me at home,” says Dr Katelaris, who works in a Sydney private hospital in post-operative care.

The woman had mild polymyositis that appeared to have been exacerbated after a statin was prescribed; she became wheelchair bound and experienced chronic pain. A pain management clinic prescribed morphine, but it caused severe constipation, unsteadiness and confusion.

“She had already tried cannabis in cookies, which had provided benefit but ... she wasn’t able to smoke the herb,” Dr Katelaris says.

“I provided her with a sublingual tincture prepared from carefully selected cannabis [plants]. It led to substantial improvement and she was able to reduce her morphine dosage with its associated side effects.”

However, the prescription landed him in hot water. Dr Katelaris, who has been involved in industrial hemp research and medical cannabis experimentation for 16 years, is currently waiting to hear the outcome of NSW Medical Board charges, including professional misconduct, for prescribing cannabis to the woman and other patients.

He also appeared in court on charges of large-scale production of marijuana after drug squad detectives raided his farm where he was growing half a hectare of what he claims was a very-low-THC-fibre hemp crop. Dr Katelaris says most of the more serious charges, including supply, were dropped when he appeared in court last month, although he will still have to appear in court early next year to face some lesser charges, such as possession.

Asked about the ethical issues raised by breaking the law, Dr Katelaris says: “It is not a matter of ethics, it is about the scientific evidence that overwhelmingly shows that cannabis has a beneficial effect on the symptoms of severe disease including spinal spasticity and MS, HIV and cancer.

“The illegality stems from racist and corrupt laws put in place in the US in the 1930s. The law should serve humans, but instead the cannabis laws cause harm and serve to persecute a most disadvantaged group in society.

“Because of the illegality there is a $5-billion black market with profits mostly going to organised crime. What are the ethics of forcing sick people to go to criminals?”

There is support for doctors who provide illegal treatments when they are acting for the good of patients.

Dr Andrew John Katelaris was convicted on March 8 in 2006 of one count of cultivating not less than a large commercial quantity of cannabis.

He grew the plants on his property at Salisbury, near Dungog in the NSW Hunter Valley.

The NSW District Court in Newcastle was told tests showed the crop had a low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, making it of no value as a drug.

During sentencing submissions today, the court was told Dr Katelaris' licence as a medical practitioner in NSW had been revoked for three years.

The NSW Medical Tribunal banned Dr Katelaris over the self-administration of cannabis and for supplying it to some patients.