Push for cannabis over the counter

MEDICINAL cannabis could be available from chemists without a prescription from early next year — with the controversial move pitting doctors against patient groups.

The nation’s medicines watchdog has opened a public consultation after pressure from a Senate inquiry, epilepsy groups, cancer patients and those suffering chronic pain.

Singer Olivia Newton-John has also called for Australia to loosen rules for medicinal cannabis, after it helped with her pain and sleep during breast cancer treatment.

But the Australian Medical Association argues there is not enough evidence it works and is concerned it will normalise cannabis use and encourage people who use the illegal form of the drug. “It would be terrible if patients were of the view cannabis, with no evidence to support it, was better than an established therapy,” AMA vice-president Dr Chris Zappala said.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said any changes were a matter for the Therapeutic Goods Administration in consultation with the states and territories.

The TGA has not yet registered any low-dose cannabidiol (CBD) product as safe for use. Before it could be sold without a prescription, companies would have to apply to register their product with the TGA.

A recent TGA safety review found medical evidence supporting CBD use was flimsy, and also warned medicinal cannabis can double the effect of medications used to treat epilepsy and could interact with schizophrenia drugs. However, the review cleared the way for making it available without a script finding “at low doses, CBD appears to have an acceptable safety and tolerability profile”.

Adverse effects such as mild drowsiness and fatigue could be managed by requiring a label that indicates it should not be used if driving or operating machinery, it said.

It has been legal to purchase medicinal cannabis prescribed by a doctor under a special access scheme since March 2018, but many doctors do not make it available and the approval process is complicated. It is not subsidised by the drug subsidy scheme and high doses can cost $40,000 a year.

Sydney University Lambert Initiative For Cannabinoid Therapeutics’s Professor Iain McGregor said in low doses CBD might improve anxiety, relieve minor aches and pains, and improve sleep.

The TGA is only proposing low-dose CBD be available over the counter in chemists.

IT WOULD BE

TERRIBLE IF PATIENTS WERE OF THE VIEW CANNABIS WAS BETTER THAN AN ESTABLISHED THERAPY DR CHRIS ZAPPALA