Sharp rise in doctors prescribing cannabis
But since 2019, the number of doctors prescribing medicinal cannabis has grown considerably, according to official data collected by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Whereas there were just 144 doctors authorised to issue prescriptions for medicinal cannabis in 2019, that number is 1,701 today – the bulk having registered with the TGA in the past two years.
And there have been 295,515 prescriptions for medicinal cannabis issued since 2020, compared with just 1,011 issued between 2016 and 2019.
Those are just the official numbers; scientists estimate that the true number of Australians using medical cannabis is substantially higher. According to the Lambert Initiative’s 2020 Cannabis as Medicine Survey – which collected data from 1,600 anonymous users of medical cannabis between September 2020 and January 2021 and published in Harm Reduction Journal – only 37 percent of respondents had received a legal prescription.
“If 63 percent of respondents in our 2020 survey were self-medicating with cannabis obtained illicitly, it suggests that the total number of people using cannabis for medical purposes is substantially higher than the official prescription figures indicate,” said Professor Nicholas Lintzeris, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, who leads the Cannabis as Medicine Survey, conducted every two years.
“In order to have a true understanding of how cannabis is being used for medicinal purposes in Australia, we really need data from all users, not just those on prescription,” he added.
