Queensland becomes nation’s capital for medical marijuana prescriptions

The medical cannabis world is rapidly growing in Australia with Queensland leading the charge by dispensing more than half of the nation’s prescriptions.

Queensland is the nation’s capital of medical cannabis, dispensing more than half of all prescriptions in the country, according to recent research.

Queensland-based distributer Medcan is now seeking to hire 50 more staff to meet demand, with a 130 per cent increase in medical marijuana patients nationwide, according to healthcare researcher NostraData.

The available positions include quality assurance managers, master and junior growers, cultivation technicians and post-harvest technicians

Medcan’s medical director Dr Laurence Kemp said Queensland’s relaxed laws are why the state is so far ahead of others with doctors handing out more than 2000 prescriptions a month.

“For every patient who’s prescribed you need to get approval from the TGA. But most other states have insisted on also having a separate state permit, while Queensland never had that rule except in exceptional circumstances,” he said.

Dr Laurence Kemp says doctors are handing out more than 2000 medicinal cannabis prescriptions a month.

But despite almost 30,000 patients received a cannabis dispensed script in the last quarter of 2021, the number of GPs and specialists who will prescribe it remains low at just 3 per cent.

“It’s a relatively new and complex area of medicine that’s really developed as its own little subspecialty area. For a doctor getting into the area it can be quite bewildering and complex,” he said.

But the natural medicine has become a “life-changing” option for those living with chronic pain including physical, nerve and mental.

“We’ve seen people be able to return to work, I’ve had patients who haven’t left their house in years who are now going out with their grandchildren. I’ve seen some real life changing effects in quite a few areas,” he said.

Medcan Australia CEO Craig Cochran and head of cultivation Nathaniel Johns. Picture: Supplied.

Amputee Tom Bronson, 68 from Victoria Point, made the move to medicinal marijuana after years of relying on opioids to manage pain.

“The first time I tried it, I didn’t think anything happened but then I realised two hours went by and I wasn’t thinking about the pain. It was still there but it was almost like it was wrapped in cotton wool,” he said.

It’s also helped to reduce his reliance on the highly addictive and dangerous opioid painkillers.

“The functionality of it is very good, and at the very least, using it in conjunction with the other medication takes that stress off your body that those drugs put on you,” he said.

“It adjusts to you, and it’s definitely just easier on the body.”

However, Mr Bronson admitted he was initially hesitant about implementing the new-age pain relief into his routine, saying he “laughed it off” when he was first offered it by a doctor.

“I was definitely hesitant about it but I think that stigma is really generational. I’m a kid of the ‘60s and there’s this connotation that we still carry about it. But the evidence that it does work cannot be refuted,” he said.