Is medicinal cannabis in Australia 'the wild west of medicine'?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-04-18 03:00

Australia; VIC; QLD

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Australian experts interviewed 17 Aussie doctors about prescribing medicinal cannabis, and identified four factors that hinder the prescription of cannabis-based treatments. Barriers included: developing the clinical capabilities needed to prescribe, including a lack of knowledge of medicinal cannabis in the healthcare community and a lack of resources to guide prescribing; issues around prescribing an unapproved treatment, including a lengthy prescribing process, high costs of the treatments, and concerns about the legal liability of prescribers; stigma directed at active prescribers by the medical community, including abuse; and a lack of consensus on the benefits or otherwise of medicinal cannabis. One interviewee also identified issues with the emerging industry, including clinics being owned by suppliers and doing backroom 'exclusive' deals with pharmacies, and a lack of transparency about such arrangements. They described the medicinal cannabis industry as "the wild west of medicine at the moment".

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Journal/
conference: Drug & Alcohol Review

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Monash University

Funder: Olivia Dobson did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies to complete this research. Michaela Barber is supported by an Australian Government Research and Training Program Scholarship. Myfanwy Graham is supported by an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship and Monash Graduate Excellence Scholarship. Adrian Carter is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (ID: FT220100509).

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