Australian Health Authorities Take Action Against 57 Medical Practitioners Over Cannabis Prescribing Practices 

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has taken action against 57 medical practitioners, pharmacists, and nurses – and are investigating 60 more – over medical cannabis prescribing practices, the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) reports. The AHPRA found six practitioners who issued more than 10,000 medical cannabis scripts over a six-month period, including one who issued over 17,000 in one working day.  

The AHPRA has released new guidelines for medical cannabis prescriptions – which state that except for childhood epilepsy, muscle spasms, and pain associated with multiple sclerosis, cancer and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, “there is little evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis” –  and is urging prescribers to put patient health above profits. The guidelines further state that cannabis should not be prescribed as a first-line treatment and only be used when there is an evidence-supported clinical indication and when other treatments have failed. 

AHPRA chief executive Justin Untersteiner told ABC that the regulator has serious concerns for patient safety and that patients are presenting “to emergency departments with medicinal-cannabis-induced psychosis,” which “can particularly happen where there are patients that have pre-existing mental health conditions or substance abuse or other issues like that.”  

“Another area that worries us is … prescribing excessive quantities or even prescribing multiple different prescriptions to a single patient so they can try which one suits them.” — Untersteiner to ABC   

Additionally, the AHPRA found consultations for medical cannabis lasted between a few seconds and a few minutes; prescriptions by patient request; not fully assessing patients’ substance abuse histories; prescriptions for individuals under 18; excessive prescribed quantities; failure to check the real-time monitoring system; not coordinating with the patients’ other practitioners; self-prescribing or prescribing for family members; and practitioners only prescribing products supplied by companies they are associated with.