All medical practitioners in WA are eligible to prescribe medicinal cannabis products. For most patients, a general practitioner may initiate treatment. For some patients, including those with a history of drug dependency, children and young adults, the support of a suitable specialist will be required. Details of prescribing requirements are available in the Schedule 8 Medicines Prescribing Code (Word 370KB).
Before prescribing medicinal cannabis in Schedule 8, authorisation is required from the Department of Health, for each individual patient.
There are no requirements for Department of Health authorisation for cannabidiol only products in Schedule 4. However, as these products are unapproved therapeutic goods, TGA requirements must still be met.
How to apply to prescribe cannabis based products (other than Sativex®)
Apply for approval to prescribe (external site).
A single web-based application (external site) is available to apply for Western Australian Department of Health authorisation whilst simultaneously complying with the TGA requirements. Turnaround time for approval is generally 48 hours (two business days).
How to apply to prescribe Sativex®
As at November 2019, the only cannabis based product on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) (external site) is Sativex®.
To obtain authorisation to prescribe this product, medical practitioners should apply directly to the Department of Health, using the Application for authorisation form: cannabis based products (Word 870KB).
Clinical trial use
The use of cannabis based products in legitimate medical research is permitted. Clinical trials must be approved by a recognised Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and be conducted under the TGA CTN or CTX Scheme (external site).
Medical practitioners can prescribe for patients entered in clinical trials by applying to become an approved prescriber (Word 61KB). Contact the Medicines and Poisons Regulation Branch for further information.
TGA Authorised Prescribers
TGA Authorised Prescribers (external site), can obtain corresponding authorisation from the Department of Health to prescribe for all their patients. Contact the Medicines and Poisons Regulation Branch for more information.
Patient consent
Due to the unapproved nature of medicinal cannabis products and limited information about safety and efficacy, the prescriber is strongly advised to obtain informed patient consent prior to treatment with these products, and to ensure appropriate levels of monitoring are in place. A Cannabis-Based Treatment consent form (Word 793KB) is available for this purpose.