Access to medicinal marijuana just got a hell of a lot easier for anyone living in Queensland, which is a huge win for chronic pain suffers.
Thanks to a legislation that was changed three days ago, any Queensland patient can be prescribed medical marijuana if their GP believes it is an appropriate treatment option.
The new law means that any registered medical practitioner can write a script for medicinal cannabis, so obtaining a permit could be as simple as visiting your regular GP.
Prior to the amendment, cannabis prescriptions could only be written by a small number of specialist doctors, making it extremely difficult for patients to access the drug.
Those few specialists then had to individually apply to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (yep, the organisation that just fined Pete Evans for his BioCharger bullshit) for each script. As you can imagine, this makes the process significantly more difficult and lengthy for both patients and doctors.
Previously, the process could take up to 10 days to be approved, but the new ruling means doctors could complete the application in a matter of hours.
“The TGAs tend to come through in a day….even less that a day now,” Brisbane medicine compounding pharmacist Des Harp told 9News.
It’s important to note that this doesn’t just mean you can walk into your doctor’s office and get your hands on the green stuff, with patients still being required to try other, more conventional methods first.
However, there’s some pretty reputable scientific evidence to support the theory that medicinal marijuana can help with a number of conditions including (but not limited to):
- Multiple sclerosis
- Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting
- Epilepsy
- Chronic pain such as fibromyalgia and endometriosis
- Mental health conditions like PTSD and schizophrenia
If you don’t live in Queensland, your doctor will still need to apply to the TGA on your behalf to obtain a prescription. But hopefully the new legislation in Queensland prompts other states to follow suit.
Obviously, medicinal marijuana isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve ever experienced chronic pain or other debilitating medical conditions, it’s now significantly easier to obtain a script to see if it works for you.
