this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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Psychiatrists fear medicinal cannabis adverse events are 'tip of the iceberg' (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 3 months ago by HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net to c/australia@aussie.zone
31 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The whole article is worth reading but this caught my eye.

The Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA) said that without suspected adverse events being published and investigated it was hard to draw conclusions about the safety of medicinal cannabis products.

If the only organisation representing cannabis prescribers is unwilling to comment on safety what does that say about the state of the industry?

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

600 sounds like a lot...

The ABC can reveal there were 615 reports made to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) involving unregistered medicinal cannabis products between July 1, 2022 and June 1, 2025.

600 over 3 years sounds like not as much...

"If we look at the data, which we have been provided by the Pennington Institute, it's probably around 13 million units sold in that period."

Bu 600 out of 13,000,000 is...

Well, that's a 0.0046% percent chance of something happening.

And that should explain why people who know what they're talking about aren't freaking out.

[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Do you think 13million individuals have cannabis prescriptions? Do you tink 100% of adverse events are reported? Do you think psychiatrists, emergency doctors and GPs who are reporting concerning rise in adverse events are lying?

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Do you think you're not simply looking to confirm your pre-set beliefs?

[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

OP claims to be a GP in profile. This whole stance suggests a lot about the medical industry.

[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 months ago

I would suggest that corporate practices going gungho prescribing medications without established safety data is more concerning than a potential prescriber impatiently waiting for the TGA to get their act together and assess these medications.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 0 points 3 months ago

I agree. Assuming they're telling the truth to begin with.

[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 months ago

No, I believe I approach the literature with an open mind and while I don't prescribe cannabis myself I do frequently refer patients who i think will benefit. The fact that there is legitimate use of cannabis in medical settings does not mean that it isn't being over-prescribed and under regulated.

Incidentally the reason i don't prescribe myself is purely as I don't have capacity to add another string to my bow in my already busy practice.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Do you think 13million individuals have cannabis prescriptions?

...

You think every single person only used one dose in three years?

You literally have no idea what you're talking about here.

If you're nicer, people might help you understand

[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 months ago

I apologise for not being clearer. My point was that your calculation is wrong. You would need to calculate per patient which is not a published figure. Estimates are more like 1mil but I think that is based on faulty reasoning as my subjective experience is that most people remain on it for only a few months. Also that the vast majority of adverse events go unreported

[–] guillem@aussie.zone 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

For perspective, according to drugs.com:

_The chance of having a drug side effect generally falls in these ranges:

  • Very common: affecting more than 1 in 10 people (>10%)
  • Common: affecting between 1 in 10 people to 1 in 100 people (1% to 10%)
  • Uncommon: affecting between 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000 people (1% and 0.1%)
  • Rare: affecting between 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000 people (0.1% to 0.01%)
  • Very rare: affecting less than 1 in 10,000 people (< 0.01%)_
[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 months ago

In my experience with people who have been prescribed cannabis according to this metric common side effects are acute intoxication and worsening of existing mental health issues. Uncommon side effects are diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, abdominal pain. Rare is psychosis, I've seen it once in maybe 200 patients but it's probably not 0.5%.

We really need to define the risks if we're going to prescribe cannabis at these volumes. Hence the call for TGA to investigate.