Medicinal cannabis access fast-tracked for Australian patients

Minister for Health Greg Hunt is upholding the Turnbull government’s progressive stance on medicinal cannabis, revealing today that the government will facilitate faster access by qualified doctors to medicinal cannabis for approved patients.

Although the usage of medicinal cannabis was legalised federally late last year, Australian doctors must currently import the product, as local production is only just starting to be developed. Access for approved patients therefore remains limited.

As an interim measure, importers will now be able to source medicinal cannabis products from a reputable supplier overseas and store these in a safe and secure location. Patients who have been prescribed medicinal cannabis by an authorised doctor will then be able to source the medication from a company in Australia, rather than on an individual case-by-case basis from overseas.

Within eight weeks, said Hunt, Australia will have its own store of imported medicinal cannabis products.

The news comes less than one week after the Office of Drug Control issued a cannabis research licence to Cannoperations, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cann Group, allowing the company to legally cultivate medicinal cannabis and conduct research on the use of the drug for medicinal purposes. It also coincides with medical research company Medlab Clinical’s plans to start Australia’s first clinical trial using cannabis for oncology patients suffering intractable pain.