By Alison Choy Flannigan and Mitchell Stein -
Snapshot
- Use of medicinal cannabis in Australia has significantly increased in the last couple of years, with mainstream media outlets recently reporting on harmful cases.
- The efficacy of the current framework for accessing medicinal cannabis is under scrutiny in light of the emergence of vertically integrated clinics and the use of telehealth consultations.
- This article outlines the key features of this framework and anticipates some issues that might be the subject of legislative response or increased enforcement action.
The scientific literature examining the efficacy of medical cannabis for many conditions is still developing, whilst large numbers of patients globally have been successfully using medical cannabis to treat a broad range of conditions. For example, a 2021 narrative review published in Neuropharmacology found discords between the strength of evidence supporting medicinal cannabis use for different conditions. This leads to dispute over the correct evidence-based dosage of medicinal cannabis.
Further, there have been recent controversies over:
- reports patients are being harmed by medicinal cannabis, including through addiction and psychosis; and
- vertical business models involving medicinal cannabis companies, medical practitioners and pharmacists.
A recent study by Monash University named medicinal cannabis as the ‘wild west’ of medicine.
The medicinal cannabis scheme has been in operation in Australia since 2016, when the Commonwealth government passed amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 (Cth) to legalise cultivation and production of cannabis for research and medical purposes, and to allow registered health practitioners to prescribe cannabis medicines.
