Overview

• Australia’s Medical Association and Pharmacy Guild have written to Health Minister Mark Butler urging urgent controls on what they call poorly regulated prescribing and dispensing of medicinal cannabis.
• AHPRA last week issued national telehealth guidance that discourages prescribing without an in-person consult and restricts undisclosed chatbot or AI use, emphasizing practitioner accountability.
• The Therapeutic Goods Administration has opened a review of unapproved medicinal cannabis products and closed public consultation this month, with submissions detailing harms and commercial exploitation.
• Psychiatrists report telehealth clinics prescribing high-THC cannabis without contacting patients’ treating clinicians, creating risks for people with serious mental illness and eroding continuity of care.
• The telehealth-driven market has produced more than 1.5 million approved prescriptions and hundreds of millions in sales, while drug policy advocates warn tighter access could push some patients to illicit cannabis.