2020-12-16
The Greens welcome the announcement by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to down-schedule cannabidiol (CBD) and enable the availability of low-dose CBD over-the-counter (OTC) in pharmacies.
"The TGA has scheduled low doses of medicinal cannabis but there are currently no products on the Australian market to meet that purpose", Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said.
More needs to be done to accelerate access to medicinal cannabis. In March this year a Senate inquiry examining access to medicinal cannabis in Australia made a series of landmark recommendations to significantly improve access and the lives of Australian patients, unfortunately the Government is dragging their feet and has not yet responded.
I’m afraid that ignorance and ideology are getting in the way of patient care.
Patients are unable to access the medicinal cannabis treatments they need due to regulatory barriers and enormous cost.
The system needs to be overhauled and an Independent Regulator put in place.
The Medicare Benefits Schedule does not support the best-practice treatment model for pain, leading to unnecessary use of hospital-based services and an over-reliance on medications.
Cost is a hugely prohibitive factor for many patients. It’s completely unacceptable that people can be out of pocket thousands of dollars for trying to access legal medicinal cannabis products through a regulated system when the black market is far cheaper.
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