Dr Orit Holtzman, a GP based out of NSW, has called for potential patients to be given easier access to medicinal cannabis to reduce the use of addictive and harmful opioids.
Currently in NSW, patients require a single assessment from the Therapeutic Goods Association in order to be approved for medicinal cannabis.
As well, medicinal cannabis is not currently being offered as a first-time treatment, but rather after they’ve already tried opioids or other medication before they can be considered.
Dr Holtzman went on to say that the lack of education among doctors to consider cannabis in a medical environment is still one of the reasons to blame.
There’s a stigma that still sees cannabis as a drug of addition rather than a medication.
She went on to add:
I had to actively seek information and training. Most doctors are either not interested in doing that or they put it in the ‘too hard basket’ because you can’t just pull out a prescription pad like you can with other prescription drugs.
Even those who are accepted into the medicinal cannabis scheme in Australia, the prices are considerably high. With some patients being forced to spend hundreds of dollars a month on their prescriptions. Which is one of the reasons why Dr Holtzman also suggested medicinal cannabis be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to reduce the monthly cost to patients.
One of her medicinal cannabis patients, Matthew Sieders, said medicinal cannabis changed his life.
He was diagnosed with chronic pain after he broke his back in a workplace injury, following which he was prescribed tramadol, a poopular opioid pain medication – which he took for nearly 3 years.
My quality of life and mood completely improved when I tried medicinal cannabis. I wasn’t so much of a zombie.
He currently pays over $500/month for his medicinal cannabis, as well as the $80 consultation fee every time he needs a new prescription.
$500 a month is a lot to many Australians. It’s safe to say many of those who’d benefit from medicinal cannabis would opt for the subsidised opioids purely because of the price.
We hope to see the cost of medicinal cannabis vastly decline in near future, sooner rather than later.