MCEWG, Meeting 4, 25 February 2025

The Medicinal Cannabis Expert Working Group (MCEWG) met for its fourth meeting in Canberra on Tuesday 25 February 2025. The MCEWG membership is comprised of experts in the medicinal cannabis field including general practitioners, consumer and industry representatives and specialists in pharmacy, mental health and pain management.

MCEWG discussion

The following topics were discussed:

• Presentation on ‘Medicinal cannabis in Queensland – A report on stakeholder feedback (July 2024) to key stakeholders in Queensland’ and the ‘Medicinal cannabis in Queensland Action Plan’. There was a discussion on two recently released publications from Queensland Health - the Medicinal cannabis in Queensland – A report on stakeholder feedback (July 2024) to key stakeholders in Queensland (the report) and the Medicinal cannabis in Queensland Action Plan (July 2024) (the Action Plan).
• A survey was conducted with a limited number of health practitioners and stakeholder groups. The report on feedback received in the survey was completed in July 2024 and resulted in an Action Plan. The Action Plan aims to address issues identified in the report.
• Compounding guidelines. A speaker from the Pharmacy Board of Australia gave a presentation on the revised guidelines for compounding and medicinal cannabis.
• The guidelines emphasise the need for a robust risk assessment when a medicine is compounded, justification for compounding as well as any patient specific risks. Compounding should only occur if there are no other options as it exposes patients to unnecessary risk.
• TGA Standards for Medicinal Cannabis (TGO 93). An update on the TGA Standards for Medicinal Cannabis (TGO 93). TGO 93 highlights policy issues including high potency THC products; standardisation in labelling requirements for products; errors in the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements impacting the quality of products in the commercial market and increasing levels of pharmacy compounding.

Next meeting

The next MCEWG meeting will be held in May 2025.