The Pharmacy Board of Australia has reminded pharmacists of their responsibilities when supplying prescribed medical cannabis.
Many medical cannabis products prescribed in Australia contain delta-9 THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), making them tightly controlled Schedule 8 medicines. While most pharmacists have been supplying these products in a responsible way, there have been cases of poor practice.
Among the examples provided:
- Dispensing on repeat authorisations without the patient requesting an additional supply.
- No counselling or inadequate counselling regarding safe use given to the patient.
- Non-compliant brand substitution.
- Non-compliant storage of medicines.
- Issues with conflict of interests.
Among its functions, the Board develops standards, codes and guidelines for the pharmacy profession.
‘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 Pharmacy Board of Australia Chair, Dr Cameron Phillips. “Patient safety is paramount when supplying prescribed medicines which is no different when supplying medicinal cannabis.”
Prescriber guidance is published on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) website.
“We encourage patients and practitioners to report unsafe practice,” states the Board. “Call our Notifications Hotline on 1300 361 041 to report bad practice and help protect others.”
In July this year, updated guidance from Ahpra and the National Boards was released to help practitioners meet their obligations when prescribing after increasing reports about poor prescribing practices. 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.
There has been a huge increase in the number of prescriptions in the last few years.
- 2016-2019: Only 1,011 prescriptions were issued.
- 2020-2022: 295,515 prescriptions were issued in this period.
- 2024: Over 979,000 prescription applications were authorized by the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA).
Last month, the TGA initiated a public consultation concerning the use of unapproved medicinal cannabis products in Australia. The consultation is accepting feedback until 5pm on Tuesday 7 October 2025.
More than 1,000 unapproved medicinal cannabis products are being supplied in Australia according to the TGA, accessed legally through the Special Access Scheme (SAS) and Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme.
