What Can Medicinal Cannabis Be Used For?
Despite cannabis, or marijuana, being around for a very long time, there is still not much formal evidence for doctors to rely on when deciding which product to prescribe to patients - sometimes we start with one, and then change over to another product as we reassess the patient and their response.
There is some evidence that certain medicinal cannabis products may be useful in treating the following conditions:
- anxiety
- severe insomnia
- chronic pain, fibromyalgia
- symptoms associated with cancer and cancer treatment (such as nausea, pain and loss of appetite)
- epilepsy
- multiple sclerosis (MS) and other auto-immune diseases
- symptom relief in palliative care
- autism
- other, based on an individual assessment
Dr Kolesky is an Authorised Prescriber of medicinal cannabis, however, in some instances, a TGA submission needs to be made to the Government for approval to use a certain product for a certain patient. If you are making an appointment for medicinal cannabis, please bring relevant documentation and investigations relating to the medical condition that you have, as this may need to accompany your application.
Please note that Australian legislation sadly still hasn't caught up with the fact that medicinal cannabis has been legalised for use. At present, drug testing only tests for the PRESENCE of THC, not whether the patient is actually affected or intoxicated by it, therefore it is still illegal to drive whilst using THC containing products.
