A provisional evaluation of Australia's medical cannabis program.

In 2016, the Australian Government legislated to allow cannabis to be prescribed to patients as an unapproved medicine under the special access provisions of the Therapeutic Goods Act. This paper compares the Australian regulatory approach with other national approaches, outlines the main provisions of the Special Access Scheme for medical cannabis, describes how the program has evolved since 2017, includes an analysis of adverse events reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and discusses the barriers that remain for patients who wish to access medical cannabis. It assesses how well the Australian program has addressed the challenges of providing patients with easier access to medical cannabis while ensuring that high-quality products are used safely and effectively under medical guidance.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Wayne Hall has advised the World Health Organization (WHO) on the health effects of cannabis (2016–2023); reviewed evidence on the medical uses of cannabis for the Australian Government (2017–2018); served as a member of the Australian Advisory Council on the Medical Uses of Cannabis (2017–2020); and served as an unpaid Chair of the International Scientific Advisory Board to the NHMRC-funded center for Excellence in Clinical Research on Medical Uses of Cannabinoids (2019–2022). The views expressed in this paper are his personal views and do not reflect the views of any of these bodies. Myfanwy Graham contributed to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2023 World Drug Report chapter on medical cannabis regulation; is a Fulbright Scholar Alumna in medical cannabis public health policy, University of Southern California (2022-2023); an Associate Investigator of the NHMRC-funded Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence (2019-2023); and received funding from the NSW Clinical Cannabis Medicines Program (2018-2022). The views expressed in this paper are her personal views and do not reflect the views of any of these bodies.