Option of last resort? One million patients prescribed cannabis, figures reveal
Patients are turning to methods like cannabis suppositories to get around zero-tolerance driving laws, says former magistrate David Heilpern.
Medicinal cannabis is supposed to be a last resort, accessible almost solely through the TGA’s Special Access Scheme for unlicensed drugs.
Yet doctors have prescribed cannabis to more than 1.1 million patients over the past two years, according to the TGA’s own data1.
This includes 360,000 patients prescribed products with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis.
It is a paradox that a drug prescribed so frequently has not undergone the normal TGA assessments for efficacy and safety.
