Prescribing and supplying medicinal cannabis
Under the ACT Medicinal Cannabis Scheme, all medical practitioners including general practitioners and nurse practitioners can prescribe high quality medicinal cannabis products to their patients for therapeutic use.
Prescribing medicinal cannabis
You can only prescribe or supply medicinal cannabis formulations that are intended for therapeutic use.
You cannot prescribe or supply raw botanical cannabis that is consumed or smoked.
Most medicinal cannabis products require you to obtain a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval prior to prescribing.
Medicinal Cannabis products that are listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, such as nabiximols (Sativex) do not require approval from the TGA.
Medicinal Cannabis products that contain controlled medicines (Schedule 8 Medicines) will require an ACT Chief Health Officer approval.
You must comply with regulations under the ACT Medicinal Cannabis Scheme to prescribe, supply or stock cannabis products for therapeutic use.
If you are a consumer find out more about medicinal cannabis.
Therapeutic Goods Administration approvals
Prescribers have 2 options to obtain TGA approval to prescribe medicinal cannabis. These are:
1. Special Access Scheme
The Special Access Scheme (SAS) authorises prescribers to prescribe for individual patients who can obtain supply from a community pharmacy. You can apply for Chief Health Officer approval at the same time via the TGA’s online application form.
2. Authorised Prescriber Scheme
The Authorised Prescriber (AP) Scheme allows prescribers to obtain approval from the TGA for a group of patients with the same indication, instead of obtaining individual SAS approvals. The scheme also authorises you to supply products directly to the patient. Under this scheme, you must:
- separately seek ACT CHO approval for each patient
- arrange supply of the product to the practice directly from the sponsor or a pharmacy
- ensure appropriate storage of schedule 8 controlled medicines
- ensure supply is provided in accordance with the ACT Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008, including labelling and reporting requirements.
The TGA evaluates the application under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and ACT Health separately evaluates against the ACT Controlled Medicines Prescribing Standards.
Both organisations must approve the application before you can prescribe medicinal cannabis.
The TGA website has more information on the authorised prescriber and special access scheme.
Supplying medicinal cannabis
Pharmacists can supply medicinal cannabis on a valid prescription or purchase order from a prescriber.
You may require TGA and Office of Drug Control approval to obtain medicinal cannabis.
You should inform your customers that:
- medicinal cannabis products that contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive substance in cannabis, may cause a positive roadside drug test
- it is currently an offence to drive with THC in a person’s oral fluid or blood
- there is no medical defence for the use of medicinal cannabis which leads to a positive roadside drug test.
Some medicinal cannabis products require refrigeration. You can contact the Health Protection Service for information on safe storage.
For further information, contact the Health Protection Service on (02) 5124 9208 email hps@act.gov.au.