With concerns that profits are being prioritised over patients’ health, CHOICE decided to visit the doctor.
The conversation lasted around three and a half minutes.
After a few questions about things like allergies and alcohol consumption, I was asked what form of cannabis I wanted. “We have oil, flowers, edibles. What form?”
I told him I wasn’t sure, I haven’t really taken this before. “What do you think would be good for anxiety?”
“We can achieve with any form,” he said, and told me to take a lolly form containing a “high edible dose of [psychoactive chemical] THC”. There was no mention of how much to take or side-effects to watch out for.
Since it was legalised in 2016, a booming industry has grown around the prescription of cannabis
This was not a conversation with a street dealer or a friend with a hook up, but with a licensed doctor from one of Australia’s largest medicinal cannabis telehealth companies, Alternaleaf.
I’d previously had a call with an Alternaleaf nurse to discuss my medical history for around 25 minutes (including time spent on hold), but I was still shocked by the speed of the doctor’s consultation.
Since it was legalised in 2016, a booming industry has grown around the prescription of cannabis, dominated by telehealth services linked to pharmaceutical companies. Experts are concerned this business model is placing profit before patient care, with doctors prescribing often highly potent cannabis without giving enough consideration to evidence about efficacy and safety.
I obtained several prescriptions for highly potent products, which the medicine regulator has not approved for safe and effective use to treat anxiety
With over a million Australians using medicinal cannabis, I decided to visit five specialty websites to score a prescription. I obtained several prescriptions for highly potent products, which the medicine regulator has not approved for safe and effective use to treat anxiety.
The medical practitioner’s regulator says it has put the industry on notice, and that since 2019 it has taken regulatory action against 80 practitioners for prescribing or dispensing medicinal cannabis against professional standards. Cases include excessive prescribing, consultations that are too short and practitioners only prescribing products supplied by the company they are associated with.
Read full article
https://www.choice.com.au/health-and-body/health-practitioners/online-health-advice/articles/medicinal-cannabis-inside-the-world-of-pharma-controlled-clinics-and-5-minute-consults
