109 South Australians given medicinal cannabis prescriptions so far this year

More than 100 South Australians have received prescriptions to access medicinal cannabis this year.

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More than 100 South Australians have received prescriptions to access medicinal cannabis this year.

As of October 31, 109 South Australians had been given approval to access medicinal cannabis products, out of 1771 national approvals.

SA is still yet to have a general practitioner register to become an “authorised prescriber” of medicinal cannabis, meaning patients have to seek access through “special access scheme B” requiring approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The Greens and medicinal cannabis proponents say the difficulty and cost of getting medicinal cannabis is “forcing” patients onto the black market.

Health Minister Stephen Wade said a move to an online application process in July had accelerated the number of approvals.

“The new system is working well. It provides a simpler, more streamlined approach for South Australian prescribers and faster access for patients,” Mr Wade said.

AMA state president Dr William Tam

Health Minister Stephen Wade

Greens MP Tammy Franks said red tape around the medicinal cannabis industry was preventing patients from accessing it. “Doctors aren’t educated or equipped to prescribe and even if they can get through the system, there’s no product that’s affordable for their patients,” she said.

Australian Medical Association state president Dr William Tam said he expected the reason no SA doctors had opted to become an authorised prescriber was because they were not convinced about the merits of medicinal cannabis.

“We know it’s useful for people with epilepsy and intractable nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy but its usefulness for other conditions is unclear,” he said.

GD Pharma chief executive Antony Condina, whose firm is SA’s first maker of legal medicinal cannabis products.

“It’s just another drug for us in a space where there’s already many medications that have been useful.

“We need to follow the evidence and because the evidence is scant, I think that’s why the uptake has been slow.”

Ben Fitzsimons from medicinal cannabis advocacy firm WeCann said access was still too difficult.

“The stories I hear are that people still find it far easier to access illicit and illegal product rather than going down the legal pathway,” he said.