People prescribed medicinal cannabis will have now access to it within two days under streamlined process according to the following report by the ABC .
Now all they have to do is find a Dr to prescribe it and have access to product, and also, note it says “Prescribed” past tense.
According to the report. The single approvals process, through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) appears to be the way to go. Let’s see what’s happening in a couple of weeks time.
We wonder if politicians have been looking at movement on the other side of the Pacific and realized that creating further bottlenecks in the Australian system will become so counter productive that any useful investments will end up in other jurisdictions.
Our sources both in Australia and in the US tell us that the biggest overseas investors into the US market are unsurprisingly Canada and then second on that list is Australia. We’re talking numbers close to $A100 million dollars and upward in 2018 Q.1 alone. Law firms on both coasts of the US are handling enquiries for Australian clients. Maybe the message has finally filtered through to Federal and State govt apparatchiks.
Although, that said, speeding up the patient access part of the process isn’t really going to cure the built in ills of the system.
Urgent solutions are needed for
- Lack of education in the medical sector
- Slow infrastructure growth and engagement
- Lengthy trials
- Legislation designed for the usual suspects to access the market as an when they feel in terms of investment and capital growth.
A healthy dose of US grassroots capitalism would, we suggest, give the sector a great boost in Australia. But let’s not hold our breath. Men in cheap suits in statehouses will ensure that Australian cronyism capitalism will limp along in its ineffectual manner allowing the Chinese to mass produce low grade quality hemp while the Americans with their imperfect but operating system will build upon the gains they have made in the market through their usual trilogy of advocacy, technology and invention.
Oh … and Canada comes aboard in July / August with a fully regulated market. And look what they’ve managed to achieve already in a grey market.
As CLR heard Dr Jarosev Boublik of Leafcann say only a couple of weeks ago at a Can10 meeting in Sydney. Australia has a framework, it is building the expertise and it’s always been a country that can punch above its weight even with the stop signs politicians so love to erect.
Hopefully this small push for patient access will let other chinks of light into a market that is now one of the fastest growing employers in the US.
Did anybody say “Tipping Point”
The ABC reports
Australians prescribed medicinal cannabis will now have access to the drug within two days, after a meeting of state and territory health ministers in Sydney.
Patients have been waiting months for access to the drug, under current legislation which sees a double-approval process from both state and federal regulators.
On Friday, all state and territories signed up to the national scheme, which allows the approvals process to be streamlined through one national body.
“Faster access, better access … there will be a one-stop shop for accessing medicinal cannabis,” Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
“The decision as to whether or not to prescribe is rightly in the hands of medical professionals, but once that decision is made, access will then be provided within what we expect to be a 48-hour period.
“In many cases, as low as 24 hours.”
The single approvals process, through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), started operating in New South Wales last month.
Mr Hunt argued it had been a very successful trial.
“We’ve already seen, in New South Wales, the time for prescriptions drop dramatically from two months to two days im that system,” he said.
“This is an important day for patient access.
“Now time should not be a matter of concern once a doctor has made his or her prescription.”
Also here’s a report from Perth Now
SICK West Australians who have been prescribed medicinal cannabis by a doctor will be able to get access within 48 hours under a plan agreed to by Health Minister Roger Cook.
At the Council of Australian Governments health council meeting in Sydney yesterday, Mr Cook and his State and Territory counterparts gave the nod to having a single approval process for all medicinal cannabis products to be managed by the Federal Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The deal means patients will no longer have to apply to both State and Federal authorities if their doctors recommend they use the drug for treatment purposes.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the change, which will see all jurisdictions adopt the Commonwealth trial under way in NSW, would make doctors a “one-stop shop” for accessing medicinal cannabis after they make the decision to prescribe it.
“The decision to prescribe will be rightly in the hands of medical professionals,” he said.
“But once that decision is made, access will be provided within what we expect to be a 48-hour period. In some cases as low as 24 hours.”
A WA-led proposal designed to remove barriers to registered health professionals receiving mental health treatment will also be adopted across the country after it was endorsed by the ministers.
Mr Hunt said up until now there had been significant unintended barriers to doctors and nurses seeking help because of man-datory reporting requirements.
He said patients would be protected by important provisions to be written into the legislation, which would be developed in consultation with medical professionals and the States.
“What has been agreed is a system that will both protect patients but, critically, also remove barriers to doctors and nurses receiving and accessing the mental health treatment that they want,” Mr Hunt said.
Another proposal out of WA to consider lifting the legal age for purchasing cigarettes to 21 received a mixed response and was referred to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council for further study.
In putting the change on the agenda, Mr Cook had hoped to spark discussion about raising the legal smoking age from 18 among his interstate colleagues and examine the challenges and obstacles.
He said any such change required a national approach.
