WHERE IN AUSTRALIA IS MEDICAL CANNABIS LEGAL?
Despite announcements by the Australian federal government and media since February 2016, cannabis use and possession, even for medical purposes, is still illegal and a difficult to obtain product for the majority of people all over Australia. Below is a helpful link which provides a guide through the lengthy and difficult process in Australia of gaining legal medical cannabis: https://sydney.edu.au/lambert/how-to-get-medicinal-cannabis.html
Here is the federal government’s Office of Drug Control’s website on medicinal cannabis: https://www.odc.gov.au/medicinal-cannabis
ODC Approved Suppliers of medicinal cannabis: https://www.odc.gov.au/manufacturers-and-suppliers-medicinal-cannabis-products
Each Australian State and Territory has varying requirements for patients accessing medicinal cannabis: https://sydney.edu.au/lambert/how-to-get-medicinal-cannabis/state-and-territory-requirements.html
Victoria was the first state in Australia to introduce legislation to legalise medicinal cannabis for very specific medical conditions, and other states and territories quickly followed.
Victoria: Legal for use by children with severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy, from early 2017: Access to Medicinal Cannabis Act 2016.
Queensland: Legal by prescription from specialists for use by patients with a range of conditions including MS, epilepsy, cancer, and HIV/AIDS, from March 2017: Public Health (Medicinal Cannabis) Act 2016.
NSW: Legal for use by adults with end-of-life illnesses, from July 2016: Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Amendment Regulation 2016. (See NSW Government’s Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation for details.)
ACT: Legislation in preparation in 2017.
Tasmania: Controlled Access Scheme began in 2017 to allow patients to access unregistered medicinal cannabis. No legislative changes were required in Tasmania.
WA: Legal by prescription from doctors under certain conditions, from November 2016: Misuse of Drugs Act 1981.
SA: Legal by prescription from doctors under certain conditions, from November 2016.
NT: Cannabis is still listed as a prohibited drug.
For those who simply derive pleasure and enjoy cannabis, recreational use of marijuana remains illegal across all federal, state, and territory laws in Australia.
Are you a GP?
General practitioners (GPs) who have any questions about prescribing medical cannabis through the Special Access Scheme or Authorised Prescriber Scheme can ring the special TGA hotline:
TGA Medicinal Cannabis Hotline for GPs
Phone: 1800 020 653
Email: medicinal.cannabis@health.gov.au
Cannabis Access is a web portal designed to assist doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis in Australia and meet the regulatory requirements: https://cannabisaccess.com.au/