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    In Australia, medicinal cannabis products are used for a range of illnesses and health conditions.

    Document: Mini Bulletin: Medical Cannabis Products

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    In 2019, of the 2.5 million Australians who used cannabis, 600,000 used it for medicinal purposes only.1

    And access to legal medicinal cannabis products through health care channels continues to increase.

    cannabis bud and oil

    In fact, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved access to more than 150,000 medicinal cannabis products through its Special Access Scheme (as of August 31, 2021), with more than 10,000 approved in August alone.2

    So, what are legally produced medicinal cannabis products? Is the cannabis used the same as illegally produced cannabis products? What conditions does it potentially help? And can you access it legally?

    While there’s a lot of interest in medicinal cannabis, there’s a lot of confusion about it too.

    Here we cut through the confusion by answering some commonly asked questions.

    FAQs
    1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Emerging topic: Medicinal Cannabis [Accessed 23 August 2021].
    2. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Medicinal cannabis: Role of the TGA [Accessed 20 September 2021].
    3. Arnold J. A primer on medicinal cannabis safety and potential adverse effects. Australian Journal for General Practitioners. 2021;50:345-50.
    4. National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine. The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2017.
    5. ACT Government. Cannabis [Accessed 19 August 2021].
    6. Zou S, Kumar U. Cannabinoid Receptors and the Endocannabinoid System: Signaling and Function in the Central Nervous System. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19(3):833.
    7. Stith SS, Vigil JM, Brockelman F, Keeling K, Hall B. The Association between Cannabis Product Characteristics and Symptom Relief. Scientific Reports. 2019;9(1):2712.
    8. National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC). Role of general practitioners in provision of brief interventions for cannabis use-related difficulties [Accessed 18 August 2021].
    9. Lattanzi S, Brigo F, Trinka E, Zaccara G, Cagnetti C, Del Giovane C, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Cannabidiol in Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Drugs. 2018;78(17):1791-804.
    10. NPS Medicinewise. Medicinal cannabis: what you need to know [Accessed 25 August 2021].
    11. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicincal cannabis in Australia: Overview. Australian Government Department of Health; 2017.
    12. Whiting PF, Wolff RF, Deshpande S, Di Nisio M, Duffy S, Hernandez AV, et al. Cannabinoids for Medical Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Jama. 2015;313(24):2456-73.
    13. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis in Australia: Overview [Accessed 22 August 2021].
    14. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis for the prevention or management of nausea and vomiting in Australia. Australian Government Department of Health; 2017.
    15. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of epilepsy in paediatric and young adult patients in Australia. Australian Government Department of Health; 2017.
    16. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain in Australia. Australian Government Department of Health; 2017.
    17. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of multiple sclerosis in Australia. Australian Government Department of Health; 2017.
    18. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of palliative care patients in Australia. Australian Government Department of Health; 2017.
    19. Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence. Prescribing cannabis medicines for management of anorexia-cachexia in patients with advanced cancer [Accessed 24 August 2021].
    20. Meissner H, Cascella A. Cannabidiol (CBD) [Accessed 26 August 2021].
    21. Harvard Health. Cannabidiol (CBD) - what we know and what we don't [Accessed 26 August 2021].
    22. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Guidance for the use of medicinal cannabis in Australia: Patient information [Accessed 26 August 2021].
    23. Schlag AK, Hindocha C, Zafar R, Nutt DJ, Curran HV. Cannabis based medicines and cannabis dependence: A critical review of issues and evidence. J Psychopharmacol. 2021;35(7):773-85.
    24. Hay GL, Baracz SJ, Everett NA, Roberts J, Costa PA, Arnold JC, et al. Cannabidiol treatment reduces the motivation to self-administer methamphetamine and methamphetamine-primed relapse in rats. J Psychopharmacol. 2018;32(12):1369-78.
    25. Arnold JC, Nation T, McGregor IS. Prescribing medicinal cannabis. Aust Prescr. 2020;43(5):152-9.
    26. Senate Standing Committee. Parliament of Australia. Current barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis in Australia 2020.
    27. Pain Australia. Proposed amendments to the poisons standard – down-scheduling of cannabidiol (cbd) [Accessed 26 August 2021].
    28. Australian Pain Management Association. Submission to the Inquiry into the current barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis in Australia. 2020. Contract No.: 26 August 2021.
    29. Therapeutic Goods Administration. TGA warns consumers about potential harm from unlawfully supplied medicinal cannabis [Accessed 25 August 2021].

    Last updated: 25 Oct 2021