Australia: Making A Submission To “The Senate Community Affairs References Committee” On Medical Cannabis

Australia: Making A Submission To “The Senate Community Affairs References Committee” On Medical Cannabis

Current barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis in Australia On 14 November 2019, the Senate referred an inquiry into the current barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis in Australia to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 12 February 2020. Further detail about the scope of the inquiry is provided in the terms of reference. Terms of Reference The current barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis in Australia, including: (a) the appropriateness of the current regulatory regime through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Special Access Scheme (SAS), Authorised Prescriber Scheme and clinical trials; (b) the suitability of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for subsidising patient access to medicinal cannabis products; (c) the interaction between state and territory authorities and the Commonwealth, including overlap and variation between state and territory schemes; (d) Australia’s regulatory regime in comparison to international best practice models for medicinal cannabis regulation and patient access; (e) the availability of training for doctors in the current TGA regulatory regime for prescribing medicinal cannabis to their patients; (f) the education of doctors in the Endogenous Cannabinoid System (ECS), and the appropriateness of medicinal cannabis treatments for various indications; (g) sources of information for doctors about uses of medicinal…