Pharmacy Board of Australia reminds pharmacists of their obligations when providing prescribed medical cannabis.
Many medical cannabis products prescribed in Australia contain delta-9 THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), making them tightly controlled Schedule 8 medicines. There have been some instances of bad practice, even though most pharmacies are supplying the products responsibly.
Here are some examples:
- Without the patient’s request, dispense with repeat prescriptions.
- Patients are not given adequate or no information about safe usage.
- Substitution of non-compliant brands
- Medicines stored in a non-compliant manner
- Problems of conflicting interests
The Board has among its functions the development of standards, codes, and guidelines for pharmacists.
‘With the exponential increase in the number of scripts being written for medicinal cannabis, the Board thought it was timely to remind all pharmacists of their obligations when supplying such products,” said Cameron Phillips, Chair of the Pharmacy Board of Australia. The safety of patients is the most important factor when it comes to prescribing medicines, and this is also true when it comes to supplying medical cannabis.
Prescriber guidance is published On the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website (Ahpra).
Board: “We urge patients and practitioners alike to inform us of any unsafe practices.” The Board encourages patients and practitioners to call the Notifications hotline (1300 361041) in order to report unsafe practice.
After increasing complaints about bad prescribing, Ahpra and National Boards released updated guidelines in July of this year to assist practitioners with their obligations. An extreme example indicated eight practitioners had each issued more than 10,000 scripts in a six-month window — and one who reportedly issued over 17,000 scripts.
In the past few years, the number of prescribed medications has increased dramatically.
- In 2016, only 1 011 prescriptions were written.
- In the period 2020-2022, 295 515 prescriptions have been issued.
- By 2024, the Therapeutic Goods Administration will have approved more than 979,000 applications for prescriptions.
TGA began a public consultative process last month to address the issue of the unapproved use and sale of medicinal cannabis in Australia. This consultation will accept feedback up until 5pm, Tuesday 7th of October 2025.
According to TGA figures, more than 1,000 non-approved medical cannabis products are available in Australia. These can be obtained legally via the Special Access Scheme and the Authorised Prescriber scheme.