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Medicinal cannabis - guidance documents

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Disclaimer: This guidance document was developed in 2017 and reflects the research on medicinal cannabis available up to that time. Clinical guidance is not usually the role of the TGA as a therapeutic goods regulator, however, the information was developed to support medical practitioners at the time. The TGA is discussing potential avenues for updating this research in the future.

Version history

  • The clinical guidance documents were developed in 2017 and provide a broad overview of the evidence available at that time to support medicinal cannabis use.
  • In February 2020, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre reviewed the clinical evidence for the use of medicinal cannabis published in refereed medical journals since the clinical guidance documents were released. Additional relevant studies were included in the bibliographies for epilepsy and pain.
  • In November 2024, the clinical guidance documents were updated to reflect current regulatory information.

Important considerations

  • Guidance documents are not the same as clinical guidelines. Guidance documents are documents produced to provide advice and further explanations and do not specify requirements that are binding in regulation.
  • Healthcare practitioners are encouraged to conduct their own research to ensure their knowledge and prescribing reflects the current state of evidence of medicinal cannabis.

Access to medicinal cannabis

Visit the TGA’s medicinal cannabis hub for additional information on how the TGA provides legal access to medicinal cannabis products in appropriate circumstances.

Medicinal cannabis - guidance documents

Over the past few years, a number of Australians have expressed interest in the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. There have only been a limited number of well-designed clinical studies on medicinal cannabis and so it is hard for some doctors to find quality evidence to support decisions to prescribe medicinal cannabis.

In 2017, the Commonwealth Department of Health, in conjunction with state and territory governments, helped coordinate the development new clinical guidance documents for prescribers of medicinal cannabis products for treating chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, chronic non-cancer pain and palliative care, as well as an overview document.

The guidance documents are based on the work of a team from the Universities of New South Wales, Sydney and Queensland, under the co-ordination of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, who reviewed the clinical evidence for the use of medicinal cannabis that had been published in refereed medical journals since 1980.

The review method utilised by the research team and the limitations of the evidence are included in the individual guidance documents.

Bibliographies

Update: In February 2020, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre reviewed the clinical evidence for the use of medicinal cannabis published in refereed medical journals since the guidance documents were released. Additional relevant studies were included in the bibliographies for epilepsy and pain.

Guidance documents

A range of organisations from across Australia were involved in developing the guidance documents, including:

  • 18 patient and consumer representative groups
  • All state and territory health departments
  • 15 health care professional organisations
  • Clinical staff from 29 hospitals and health care systems
  • 14 outpatient or primary health networks.

The documents have been endorsed by the Australian Advisory Council on the Medicinal Use of Cannabis.

There is also a specific consumer brochure. 

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