We commend the authors for their informative article on prescribing medicinal cannabis in this rapidly evolving therapeutic area.1 In 2019, given the absence of information on medicinal cannabis in usual reference texts such as the Australian Medicines Handbook, the NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group (NSW TAG) identified a resource gap for NSW public hospital clinicians. In collaboration with the NSW Cannabis Medicines Advisory Service, NSW TAG developed an information primer for Cannabis Medicines Use in Hospitals. This outlines information regarding access, general principles, active ingredients and scheduling for cannabis medicines. It also provides more detail regarding the dispensing processes for hospital pharmacists as well as storage considerations and links to other policy documents and online resources.
We also recommend going directly to the NSW Cannabis Medicines Advisory Service which provides expert clinical guidance and support for NSW doctors (and pharmacists) when considering the potential use of a cannabis medicine in an individual patient. This is a very valuable resource for this sometimes challenging area of clinical practice.
REFERENCE
- 1.Arnold JC, Nation T, McGregor IS. Prescribing medicinal cannabis. Aust Prescr 2020;43:152-9. 10.18773/austprescr.2020.052 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]