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People prescribed medicinal cannabis will have now access to it within two days under streamlined process - By political reporter Isabella Higgins . April 2018
Australians prescribed medicinal cannabis will now have access to the drug within two days , after a meeting of state and territory health ministers in Sydney .
Patients have been waiting months for access to the drug , under current legislation which sees a double-approval process from both state and federal regulators .
Mid May , all state and territories signed up to the national scheme , which allows the approvals process to be streamlined through one national body .
" Faster access , better access … there will be a one-stop shop for accessing medicinal cannabis ," Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said .
" The decision as to whether or not to prescribe is rightly in the hands of medical professionals , but once that decision is made , access will then be provided within what we expect to be a 48-hour period .
Who can get medicinal marijuana ? The Federal Government has approved the sale of medicinal marijuana , but it still won ' t be easy for people to get a prescription .
" In many cases , as low as 24 hours ."
The single approvals process , through the Therapeutic Goods Administration ( TGA ), started operating in New South Wales last month .
Mr Hunt argued it had been a very successful trial . " We ' ve already seen , in New South Wales , the time for prescriptions drop dramatically from two months to two days in that system ” he said
" This is an important day for patient access . EDITOR : who does Hunt think he is kidding . To access the medicinal Cannabis through the SAS or CAS schemes is exactly the same . Nothing has changed , More smoke and mirrors by an incompetent Liberal Government . This only changes the access time line for the very very few Australians who have been prescribed . Now we want to see a quality product at an affordable price . " Now time should not be a matter of concern once a doctor has made his or her prescription ."
This involves a long process of approvals through the states and the Therapeutic Goods Association , who require paperwork outlining the evidence and potential benefits , and it ' s also reliant on the availability of the drug overseas .
As of now , though , it will be easier to import medicinal marijuana from approved international suppliers , which means the product will be able to be imported in bulk and warehoused in Australia until it ' s needed .
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the importation rules will be relaxed until there ' s an Australian industry that ' s up to the task of meeting demand .
That could be a while : a law allowing the cultivation of medicinal marijuana in Australia only came into effect in October last year , and the first licence for private cultivation was only issued last week .