State grant awarded for Federation TAFE medicinal cannabis courses

A healthy government grant has allowed for the establishment of new courses to teach Victorians how to cultivate medicinal cannabis as the industry is expected to boom in coming years.

The state government is helping to pay for students to grow medicinal cannabis as a regional TAFE prepares to take on its first group of novice narcotic cultivators.

Ballarat’s Federation TAFE announced this month it would partner with Melbourne cannabis-growing company GemKom to provide Australia’s first nationally accredited training in medicinal cannabis cultivation and production, thanks to a $1.6m state government grant.

The grant goes some way towards fulfilling aspirations the government has held for several years regarding building up a workforce for an industry promising a strong return on investment.

While GemKom awaits city approval for a large indoor cultivation farm in Ballarat, Federation TAFE’s pilot Certificate III course will be offered elsewhere in 2024, with a host location still being negotiated.

Up to a dozen trainees are expected in each cohort, to be employed and paid for the duration of their studies as part of Federation University’s move to have all of its courses designed alongside industry from the end of next year.

Federation University Australia Provost Liam Sloan said the medicinal cannabis courses, which a federal regulator approved in 2020, had been put together in collaboration with an advisory group of experts in the industry.

The Certificate III will teach cultivation skills and a Certificate IV expected to offered in 2025 will have to do with management roles.

“Federation TAFE is committed to addressing skills shortages and is also excited to work with our industry partners to play a part in improving the quality of life for patients suffering from a range of conditions who will benefit from easier access to a range of reliable and locally produced medicinal cannabis products,” Mr Sloan said.

Medicinal cannabis farms have already been established in Mildura and Shepparton.

A cannabis plant.

Cultivating and prescribing medicinal cannabis

Access to medicinal cannabis in Victoria was granted by legislation that passed in 2016.

A federally-issued licence and permit is required in Victoria to grow cannabis, and further permits are needed from the state health department to possess, sell, or supply wholesale cannabis products.

But, at least for now, cannabis cultivation remains more of a pharmaceutical pursuit than an agricultural endeavour; no farmers associated with the Victorian Farmers Federation were interested in discussing the possibility of switching to the crop, a spokesman said.

Victorian doctors can prescribe medicinal cannabis to any patient with any condition, but since THC remains a controlled drug, it usually requires certain government approvals.

“Currently,” the Health Department website states, “the scientific literature supporting the use of medicinal cannabis to treat a range of conditions is limited, but there is some evidence to support its use for patients suffering from chronic or terminal illnesses who don’t get relief from other medicines.”

Cannabis oil.

A profitable pursuit

The state government developed a medicinal cannabis ‘industry development plan’ for 2018 to 2021, in which then-Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford said Victoria’s medicinal cannabis industry was “set to flourish” and that the state would become a national hub for production of the plant for domestic and international markets.

The document set an aim of Victoria providing medicinal cannabis products to 83,000 people by 2028 and for the state economy to thereby profit to the tune of $90m a year.

It lists eight steps to achieve this goal, including helping along the burgeoning industry’s workforce.

Deloitte modelling from 2019 was even more optimistic: it estimated the medicinal cannabis industry could contribute $365 million to Victoria’s Gross State Product by 2028 should the state properly capitalise on the emerging market.

That market, Deloitte said, would consist of some 242,000 Australians, mainly suffering from chronic pain, sleep disorders, migraine, cancer, and anxiety.

Such figures would call for the production of 182,000l of cannabis oil or more than 60,000kg of dried product to meet demand.

It is unknown whether economic shocks during the intervening half-decade since the commissioning of that report have dampened prior estimates, but Therapeutic Goods Administration data show an increase in demand for medicinal cannabis every year since 2018.

A spokesman said the state government was “making sure more Victorians have the skills and training they need to be a part of the rapidly growing medicinal cannabis industry”.

“That’s why we’ve invested more than $1.6m in Federation University to upskill the workforce in nationally accredited training.”