Top Priority: Oversight Of Medicinal Cannabis Scarce

For Alice Davey, endometriosis and multiple sclerosis once meant days spent bedridden in pain. That changed when she was prescribed medicinal cannabis. "I'm no longer in debilitating pain. I eat. I sleep. I don't have nausea," she said. Davey reports no side effects and has become an advocate and a federal candidate for the Legalize Cannabis Party. Yet, she argues that for many Australians, quality medicinal cannabis remains cannabis scarce despite legal reforms.

Davey's frustration is shared by other patients. Over the past three years, Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has received 615 reports of adverse events related to unapproved medicinal cannabis products. Anxiety topped the list of side effects, followed by psychotic disorders, paranoia, and hallucinations. While the TGA stresses that reporting an adverse event does not prove causation, the lack of investigations has left many feeling information is cannabis scarce and fragmented.

"I'm shocked the medicine's regulator has not investigated hundreds of reports of potential harm," Davey said. "How are we supposed to know what's safe if there are no tests?" For patients, reliable data on risks and benefits is as cannabis scarce as affordable, consistent supply.

Industry leaders also caution against panic. The chair of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association notes that 615 adverse events represent a very small percentage compared to the millions of units sold. Even so, psychiatrists like Brett Emerson are sounding alarms about an uptick in psychotic episodes among medicinal cannabis patients. In his view, marketing cannabis as a "green natural product" without significant risks can mislead vulnerable people, and transparent education is still cannabis scarce in public messaging.

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