Ever since medical cannabis became legal in Australia in 2016, the number of prescriptions filled has surpassed an impressive 370,000. Though Tasmania has contributed a smaller share to this figure,
While Tasmania’s medical cannabis industry has been slower in its development compared to other regions of the country, the commercial cultivation of hemp is flourishing throughout the state. Hemp finds
Hemp, which is legal due to the low amounts of THC (the psychoactive element) can be grown legally in Australia. However, a Tasmanian farmer has had to destroy his entire crop after THC levels were found to be too high.
ECS Botanics (ASX: ECS) has plans to expand its medicinal cannabis farm in Tasmania, from 2,500sqm to 320,000sqm. This would end up being one of Australia’s biggest cannabis farms and would enable revenues from worldwide.
Tasmanian GP’s will be able to approve patients for medicinal cannabis prescriptions from July 2021. However, access to these drugs may still be a longer and hard process, leaving patients waiting.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has announced it will remove limitations for buying cannabidiol (CBD) in Australia. This means that people aged over the age of 18 will now be able to buy low-dose medicinal cannabis without a prescription.
Three people from Burnie, Tasmania are being charged with trafficking drugs, with police saying they were advertising their CBD infused gummy sweets online. The police found four packages of the cannabis gummy bears.
The demand for the industrial hemp industry is growing, with the commercial hemp area increasing 15 percent in the past year. 80 percent of Australian hemp is grown in Tasmania, and that may be soon to increase too.
Even though the production of cannabis in Tasmania is good, patients are finding it hard to access medications, and therefore turning to the black market or growing their own to help with medical issues.
Tasmanian Alkaloids’ have opened up a new medicinal cannabis facility in the central-north region of Tasmania. It will cultivate, extract, and create medical cannabis medications, with up to 90 tonnes each year.
Tasmania’s Controlled Access Scheme has only approved 36 applications for medicinal cannabis prescriptions, compared to 56,000 applications on the mainland.
Tasmanian Botanics has obtained permits from the Office of Drug Control for the cultivation and exportation of medicinal cannabis for local supply, as well as going to Germany and potentially China.
The new controlled access scheme (CAS) for cannabis in Tasmania will allow approved medical practitioners to prescribe medical cannabis to their patients. This article answers some common questions.
