Three subgroups of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA) have merged in a move to create a stronger, united front representing healthcare practitioners across the medical landscape.
Cannabis Clinicians Australia (CCA), Australian Cannabis Nurses Association (ACNA) and Australian Cannabis Pharmacists Association (ACPA) will come together under the CCA banner.
It will be led by Dr David Gunn.
In addition to building a more collaborative dynamic, the merger will eliminate duplication and reduce administrative pressures of running three separate subgroups, AMCA said.
Working separately has also led to “missed opportunities”.
Dr Gunn said: “Each subgroup, whether pharmacists, physicians or nurses, has brought its own unique strengths and insights to the table. Bringing them together will create a more powerful, collaborative and responsive clinical body and I know this will further our shared mission to improve and advance the use of medicinal cannabis in Australia.
“We want to ensure that future decisions are shaped by the best available medical and scientific evidence for the benefit of patients, clinicians and Australians as a whole.”
Nurse Simone O’Brien, speaking on behalf of ACNA, said working together will create “greater opportunities for education and inter-professional learning and mentoring”.
“We are better and stronger together,” she said.
Meanwhile, pharmacist Jen Ravenswood said ACPA’s original goal had always been to further the medicinal cannabis sector as a whole rather just representing the interests of pharmacists.
“This merger is not a departure from that, it is the next natural step,” she said. “By coming together with our peers in medicine and nursing, we are breaking down silos and reinforcing what has always been true – that high-quality, patient-centred care is collaborative by nature.
“It strengthens our collective ability to advocate, educate and develop standards that are informed by interdisciplinary insights and grounded in patient needs.”
O’Brien, Ravenswood and Gunn, as chairman, will sit on a steering committee for the CCA along with Professor Nick Lintzeris, Louise McLean, Deb Ranson and Justin Sinclair.
CCA was formed by AMCA in late 2020, originally as the Society of Cannabis Clinicians Australian Chapter. It launched ACNA in February 2023, and ACPA in October 2023.