Letters to the Editor
More prescribing resources for medicinal cannabis
- Sharna Glover, Sarah Dinh, Sasha Bennett
- Aust Prescr 2021;44:6
- 1 February 2021
- DOI: 10.18773/austprescr.2020.085
ISSUE 1 FEBRUARY
Letter to the Editor
We commend the authors for their informative article on prescribing medicinal cannabis in this rapidly evolving therapeutic area.1 In 2019, given the absence of information on medicinal cannabis in usual reference texts such as the Australian Medicines Handbook, the NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group (NSW TAG) identified a resource gap for NSW public hospital clinicians. In collaboration with the NSW Cannabis Medicines Advisory Service, NSW TAG developed an information primer for Cannabis Medicines Use in Hospitals. This outlines information regarding access, general principles, active ingredients and scheduling for cannabis medicines. It also provides more detail regarding the dispensing processes for hospital pharmacists as well as storage considerations and links to other policy documents and online resources.
We also recommend going directly to the NSW Cannabis Medicines Advisory Service which provides expert clinical guidance and support for NSW doctors (and pharmacists) when considering the potential use of a cannabis medicine in an individual patient. This is a very valuable resource for this sometimes challenging area of clinical practice.
Sharna Glover, Sarah Dinh and Sasha Bennett
NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group, Sydney
The Editorial Executive Committee welcomes letters, which should be less than 250 words. Before a decision to publish is made, letters which refer to a published article may be sent to the author for a response. Any letter may be sent to an expert for comment. When letters are published, they are usually accompanied in the same issue by any responses or comments. The Committee screens out discourteous, inaccurate or libellous statements. The letters are sub-edited before publication. Authors are required to declare any conflicts of interest. The Committee's decision on publication is final.
Sharna Glover
NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group, Sydney
Sarah Dinh
NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group, Sydney
Sasha Bennett
NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group, Sydney
