Publication
Medical cannabis clinical guidelines
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
Disclaimer
This Clinical Guide does not replace professional judgment on particular cases, whereby the clinician or health professional decides that individual guideline recommendations are not appropriate in the circumstances presented by an individual patient, or whereby an individual patient declines a recommendation as a course of action in their care or treatment plan. In these circumstances the decision not to follow a recommendation should be appropriately recorded in the patient’s healthcare record.
Users of the information pertaining to medical cannabis in these webpages and in the Clinical Guide on medical cannabis must ensure they have the current version (hardcopy or softcopy) by checking the relevant section in the Department of Health website.
Clinical guidelines for prescribers have been drawn up by an expert group of doctors, pharmacists, patient representatives and scientific experts, to support the Medical Cannabis Access Programme, which is currently under development.
These clinical guidelines are available here:
Clinical Guidance on Cannabis for Medical Use
The Medical Cannabis Access Programme is not required or intended for authorised medicinal products but rather is to facilitate access to cannabis-based products that are not authorised as medicines but are of a standardised quality and meet an acceptable level of quality assurance during their manufacturing process.
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While these guidelines will primarily underpin the functioning of the Access Programme, the department invites all clinicians with an interest in considering use of a cannabis-based treatment for their patient to review the information contained within.
As the guidelines were drawn up by an expert group from a range of healthcare and research disciplines, it is also suggested that clinicians who wish to apply to the Minister for Health for a licence to use cannabis for medical purposes for indications which are outside of the Access Programme should refer to the guidelines before submitting their application.