Cannabis Council Australia (CCA) has hit back at calls to restrict patient access to medicinal cannabis, insisting that reform, not prohibition, is the path to “safer, smarter medicinal cannabis care”.
Responding to submissions to the TGA consultation from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and Pharmacy Guild of Australia – in which both called for tighter restrictions – CCA chief executive Lisa Penlington said the concerns of the medical bodies mirror some of those of the council.
But effectively removing medicinal cannabis as a treatment option was not the answer, she said.
“Both the Council and the AMA have identified gaps in oversight, but prohibition is not the solution,” Penlington said. “Banning them outright presents a very real risk of pushing patients back into unregulated and unsafe channels.”
She rejected calls for the immediate suspension of patient access to category 5 products on the basis that they are “high THC”, a position taken by the AMA and Pharmacy Guild.
Such a view illustrates the confusion about what a category 5 product actually is, Penlington said
“The TGA’s categorisation of medicinal cannabis products is based on their CBD content – as a percentage of total cannabinoids. Category 5 products have less than 2% CBD, the remaining 98% of the cannabinoid content may or may not include THC. And this categorisation is in no way indicative of the concentration of the cannabinoids within any particular product.
“Thus, category 5 does not relate to the outright potency of THC content.
“It is critical that rhetoric around category 5 does not become misinformation. For some patients, such as those living with certain severe or treatment-resistant conditions such as chemotherapy-induced nausea, formulations containing THC are essential and clinically justified by their treating health practitioner.”
She said the misrepresentation of category 5 products demonstrated the need to “educate the broader health system on cannabinoids more generally and THC potency”.
Product labelling and standardised guidance must also be improved, Penlington said.
In its own submission, CCA called for what it described as a “practical, workable model for reform”.
“Our objective is to establish safe, evidence-based and sustainable healthcare involving medicinal cannabis for patients, clinicians and regulators alike,” she said.
Among its recommendations is a new medicinal cannabis product approval pathway linked to the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG), ensuring products are verified for safety and quality and undergo continuous post-market monitoring with a pathway to product approval.
Prescriber credentialing, advanced training for clinical indications that warrant higher-THC prescribing, and rigorous post-market surveillance also formed part of its proposals.
Penlington said: “Medicinal cannabis patients already experience high levels of stigma. Cannabis Council Australia encourages all health sector stakeholders to participate constructively and collaboratively as we move through this review process.
“Every credible voice in healthcare – prescribers, pharmacists, regulators, and industry – wants the same outcome: a safe, transparent and clinically governed medicinal cannabis system.”