Health bodies in Queensland have expressed their alarm at the increase in medicinal cannabis use in the state, and urged the regulator to take action.
Queensland representatives from the AMA, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia warned there are “inadequate controls” surrounding the prescribing of medicinal cannabis and insisted it should be removed from the Special Access Scheme (SAS).
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Also, the surge is in prescribing, not consuming. So the doctors are Queensland based but prescribing for patients all over the country. Given the migration from Melbourne and Sydney to SEQ during and after Covid, this is not necessarily news. The stats need to be clarified.
It would be interesting to see the actual stats on these psychosis and comorbidity claims.
I don’t wish to sound flippant, so may I clarify. I know people are wary about commenting, but this is the function of this part of the site, and without there may be balance missing.
Some of the statements here are concerning, and are not to be taken lightly. However, I agree with the sentiments relating to SAS alignment and medicinal cannabis, it seems to only just fit into that model. To date, it has worked very well, as no system is perfect and patients are diverse.
The challenge is the diversity of formulations across cannabis medicine, as cannabis is not one thing. Trying to get it to fit one model, therefore, is a challenge! Formulation and dose are more important with cannabis than most medicines, this is the heart of the issue.
I have to disagree that including it in the SAS has contributed to inappropriate use, although I’d be very interested to see the data and the causal links there.
I think it should be no surprise that, with medicinal cannabis legislation, that we are going to see an increase in patients, that’s what the system is designed to do. HREC are very clear about daily limits and dosing parameters, most of the industry is strict with their adherence. However, a lack of education for prescribers in some high-volume clinics may contribute to ill-informed and potentially naive patients exceeding these limits.
Semi-recreational use has shown to harbour self-medicating habits, so I don’t think it’s fair to abandon these people who need clinical support, there are better solutions.
I’d love to have an informed, measured and factual discussion about the real-world issues, and the potential solutions going forward, so I’ll reach out.
Reform through deregulation is becoming more evident as we understand the demand profile better. Alarmism is a modern reaction, proactive consolidation is the way forward!
Hit me up to join the discussion 😎