My name is Dr Edward Bassinghtwaite,
I'm a mobile holistic vet
and I live in the northern rivers in NSW.
I'm on my way to go and see Little Mate.
He's an old Jack Russell with arthritis
and some heart failure issues and we're going to have a check-up
and see how he's been going on his medical marijuana.
I might be the only vet in Australia doing this.
When I first heard people in Australia
were giving weed to their pets, this is what I had in mind.
But the reality, as it turns out, is a lot more boring.
That's because the doggos aren't actually getting high.
At most, they might just feel a bit drowsy.
- G'day, King. - Hello Doc Edwards.
How you handling the heat?
King's probably one of the last people I'd thought
would be open to medical marijuana.
Cannabis? No, it's never been in our world.
Yeah, no, no. Wrong generation to have cannabis in our world.
No.
Neither of us have smoked, so...
When he first got sick he couldn't jump as much as he used to.
He wasn't as active
and the first day that Dr Edwards came,
well, he was lying on his bed inside
and he just wouldn't even lift his head.
He's gone from being unwilling to go for a walk at all
to being happy and excited to go for quite long walks.
And another really unexpected thing was that his heart murmur improved,
which is something that I have not seen before in 20 years of practice.
Oh yes, yes, for sure. It was a second lease on life.
Cases that may benefit,
certainly older animals with arthritis,
animals with epilepsy,
animals with immune troubles like allergies and itches,
and anxious animals with separation anxiety.
See, what this vet is recommending
isn't the same stuff that's powering drum circles
on beaches across Australia.
You absolutely should not give your pet
marijuana that you've bought for your personal use, okay?
Okay!
Instead, what Dr Bassinghtwaighte is talking about is medicinal marijuana
that comes in an oil form.
The cannabis plant contains dozens of components
which are called cannabinoids.
Among them are THC and CBD.
Both reportedly may have therapeutic effects
but THC makes people feel high and can be toxic to animals.
CBD, on the other hand, has very little to no toxicity.
It can make the dogs a bit chill.
It doesn't have a strong psychoactive effect
but it can have a slight sedative effect, for instance.
Up you get. Come on, Mate, medicine time.
After he has it, does he seem stoned?
What happens if he has a high?
No, he doesn't have a high.
You don't notice.
You wouldn't know that he's had it or not.
We can tell but the average person wouldn't know.
- How can you tell? - Oh, just the look on his face
when you go and get the bottle out of the fridge.
Hey, that's good isn't it, Mate, hey?
In respect to improving his life, it hasn't helped his hearing.
- He's still deaf. - Like me.
But other than that it's made a big difference to him. Huge.
In his whole outlook on life.
But not everyone is convinced.
I think in this current point in time
the recommendation of medical marijuana to pets and their owners
is too premature.
My name is Philip Brain. I'm a small animal medicine specialist.
We certainly see the toxic effects
of animals that are exposed to marijuana in general.
I think that we are well enough aware of those effects
to be somewhat cautious in the recommendation of medical marijuana
and to be aware of the potential for those drugs to cause side effects.
Currently, the evidence is all anecdotal
and that is fraught with danger.
To recommend a drug where that testing hasn't been done,
I think is not responsible.
Medicinal marijuana is a lucrative business.
It's worth an estimated 7 billion dollars in the US alone.
And, even though the legalities are a bit weird here in Australia,
one ASX-listed company already has plans to cash in.
I don't believe that this hideously expensive
drawn-out regulatory process
for herbs like marijuana
is anything but a money grab by big companies.
How many marijuana overdoses go to the hospital on the weekend?
I'll tell you how many.
None!
They just don't.
People just curl up on the couch and eat a packet of chips.
Vets in Australia can already legally prescribe CBD to use on animals,
but the process is tedious.
They have to get permission from one government agency to prescribe it
and then permission from another government agency to import it.
I haven't tried doing it, it seems just impossible, it's so difficult.
Instead, Edward works within a legal grey area.
What I do is I talk to people about it
and I say if you wish to use CBD as a supplement for your animal
it might be helpful but you'll have to go and find it.
After doing their own research,
King and Maureen decided to go for a cold-pressed THC substance,
which is illegal in Australia.
I suppose we were a bit apprehensive about what to do
because it is illegal
and who to ask...
but in the end it was his life
against what was likely to happen to us.
It took us... It was a good learning curve.
It took us quite, oh, I suppose six weeks to two months
before we picked up courage to go over to Nimbin.
It's a position neither of them thought
they'd ever find themselves in.
It's wrong that it should be made illegal like it is
and that we should have to worry about driving along the strip
with our supplies.
Although they don't seem to think that two oldies like us
would be picked up but you never know.
Oh, no, it doesn't stop us.
For as long as he's alive
we'll continue to supply him with the medical marijuana, yes.