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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Melissa Davey Medical editor

More than half of prescriptions for medicinal cannabis in Australia given in Queensland, study says

Blue surgical gloved-hands hold a cannabis plant cutting
A study of data provided to the TGA found pain was the most common reason given for medicinal cannabis prescriptions in Australia. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

More than half of all prescriptions for medicinal cannabis in Australia are written by doctors in Queensland, with prescriptions often given for conditions there is little evidence medicinal cannabis can treat, new research reveals.

Medicinal cannabis products such as capsules, creams, oils, lozenges, sprays and granulated flowers were approved for prescription 159,665 times between the start of Australia’s medicinal cannabis program in February 2016 and September 2021, research led by the University of Sydney’s Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics shows.

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