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You might be confused by the announcement today that the Federal Government has approved the importation of medicinal marijuana.
After all, some patients have already been legally taking the drug, so you'd be forgiven for wondering where they've been getting it from.
So how were people getting medicinal marijuana before now?
Doctors have already been importing the drug, but they've been doing it on a patient-by-patient basis.
This involves a long process of approvals through the states and the Therapeutic Goods Association, who require paperwork outlining the evidence and potential benefits, and it's also reliant on the availability of the drug overseas.
Because of this, some people have had to wait months before they actually receive their treatments.
As of now, though, it will be easier to import medicinal marijuana from approved international suppliers, which means the product will be able to be imported in bulk and warehoused in Australia until it's needed.
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the importation rules will be relaxed until there's an Australian industry that's up to the task of meeting demand.
That could be a while: a law allowing the cultivation of medicinal marijuana in Australia only came into effect in October last year, and the first licence for private cultivation was only issued last week.
That means it'll now be easier to get it?
Yes and no.
If you already have approval to use medicinal marijuana, then yes, you'll no longer have to wait for the product you need to be imported, assuming that product is one that has met all of the import regulations.
But if you don't already have a prescription, it won't be any easier to get one as a result of this change.
How hard is it to get a prescription?
Quite hard, because medicinal marijuana isn't approved by the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) as a registered good.
You need special approval to take it, and the TGA provides two ways for you to go about getting this:
- Firstly, doctors can apply to become "authorised prescribers" of specific non-listed drugs to patients with particular medical conditions
- Secondly, doctors can apply for medicinal marijuana on behalf of their patients through the "Special Access Scheme"
In both cases, doctors need to be able to show that the drug would be of benefit for a particular patient with a particular disease, and the application processes are stringent.
As well, the use of marijuana for medical purposes still needs to be legal in your state or territory.
On that note, individual states and territories also have their own laws regarding access to medicinal marijuana.
Who can get prescriptions?
Individual states and territories can make access available to specific types of patients. For instance, the Victorian Government announced in 2015 that it was legalising access to medicinal cannabis in "exceptional circumstances", including cases of children with severe epilepsy.
The TGA isn't specific about which illnesses might be eligible for special access, but medicinal marijuana has been used to treat people with epilepsy, chronic pain, cancer and HIV/AIDS.
So it's not as easy to get medical marijuana in Australia as it is in California?
No, it's not.
"In America, you can go to the doctor with a headache and get a prescription for medicinal marijuana," said Professor Jennifer Martin, chair of clinical pharmacology at the University of Newcastle.
She says she's in favour of Australia's more slow and steady approach to developing knowledge about the safety and efficacy of medicinal marijuana, though she understands that some people are impatient to get access.
"Doctors here don't want pressure to provide scripts yet because we want to make sure it's actually safe and effective first," Professor Martin said.
Is the evidence on medicinal marijuana in yet?
On the whole, no.
Professor Martin says there is some positive evidence about certain treatments: for instance, for epilepsy.
But she says much more research needs to be done to make sure that treatments are a) more effective than alternatives and b) don't have side effects which mean they shouldn't be used.
Topics: medical-research, health, cannabis, australia
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