MEDICAL CANNABIS
938. Hon Dr BRIAN WALKER to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer the minister to the paper
from academics at the University of Sydney titled Medicinal cannabis use in
Australia published in the Harm Reduction Journal on 30 July 2022,
which concludes that over the course of surveys undertaken in 2016, 2018, 2021 more
than a tenfold increase in the use of prescribed medicinal cannabis can be seen
across Australia.
(1) Given that all applications lodged in Western Australia
have to be copied to the Department of Health, is the minister able to provide
the number of patients using prescription cannabis here in July 2016, July 2018,
and July 2021 respectively?
(2) Does any
increase track with the nationwide data provided by the Sydney academics; and,
if not, in what manner do local trends here in WA differ?
Hon
SAMANTHA ROWE replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. I provide the following answer on behalf of the
Leader of the House representing the Minister for Health.
(1) The Western Australian
Department of Health receives applications for medicinal cannabis products
classified as schedule 8 medicines (controlled drugs). The numbers of medicinal
cannabis applications to the Western Australian Department of Health include
zero to July 2016, 96 to July 2018, and 6 422 to July 2021.
(2) Based on
applications received by the Department of Health, numbers of patients
receiving medicinal cannabis in Western Australia have been increasing over the
period between 2016 and 2021, broadly in line with national trends.