Role of the Commonwealth and state governments

The responsibility for regulating medicinal cannabis is shared between the Commonwealth and the states and territories.

Role of the Commonwealth

In Australia, responsibility for regulating medicines and poisons is shared between the Commonwealth and the states and territories:

  • Commonwealth controls what drugs may be used for therapeutic purposes
  • individual states or territories regulate patient access to these drugs.

All therapeutic goods and products must be approved for use by the Commonwealth, either:

Approval

Most medicinal cannabis products are unapproved therapeutic goods as they have not been included on the ARTG. Therefore, the treating prescriber must obtain approval from the TGA to access the medicinal cannabis products to be used in a patients’ treatment.

In Queensland, any medical practitioner or nurse practitioner can prescribe medicinal cannabis for any patient with any condition if they believe it is clinically appropriate and, for unapproved medicinal cannabis products, they have obtained the required TGA approval.

Last updated: 5 September 2023