Approvals for the use of medicinal cannabis products in Victoria have been rapidly increasing over the past 12 months. However, the vast majority of products being prescribed are not registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, and hence lack usual clinical trial evidence of effectiveness and adverse effects.
To help address this evidence gap, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney, have initiated the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Safety and Effectiveness Study. The study will collect longitudinal safety and effectiveness data from patients and practitioners via voluntary online surveys. This will be used to inform policy and clinical decision making.
If you are prescribing a medicinal cannabis product to patients, we invite you to take a short 3-5 minute baseline survey for each patient here. Brief follow-up information will be requested after 3 and 12 months. Prescribing doctors are also being asked to provide details of the corresponding patient survey to patients when prescribing. The patient survey can be accessed via this link and DHHS can also provide study information cards for distribution to patients.
Results of the study will be published in regular project reports and used to create the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Dataset, accessible to other researchers undertaking related research.
Please contact the Office of Medicinal Cannabis if you have any questions about the research, or if you would like to request any patient study information cards to distribute.
Contact details:
Office of Medicinal Cannabis, Department of Health and Human Services
Telephone Number: + 61 3 9096 7768
Email: medicinal.cannabis@dhhs.vic.gov.au
Location: 50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
Website: health.vic.gov.au
Disclaimer: This article was provided by Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. While every effort has been made to ensure the information is accurate, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network does not warrant or represent the accuracy, currency and completeness of any information or material included within.
