The Therapeutic Goods Administration is reminding businesses involved with medicinal cannabis products of their regulatory obligations under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. Regulatory controls on medicinal cannabis minimise the risk of harm from inappropriate use while ensuring that product is available to patients where appropriate. The amount of regulatory control needed to manage risks depends on the product and determines how consumers access the product.
The Act prohibits advertising to the general public for a substance or a therapeutic good containing a substance included in Schedule 4 or Schedule 8 of the Poisons Standard. Schedule 3 CBD products also cannot be advertised to consumers as they are not included in Appendix H of the Poisons Standard.
The use of prohibited or restricted representations in advertisements for therapeutic goods is unlawful, unless there has been prior authorisation from the TGA. Under the Act, representations relating to the treatment, cure, prevention, diagnosis (including screening), monitoring or susceptibility of, or pre-disposition to neoplastic diseases (including all types of cancer), sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C virus and mental illness are prohibited representations.
Representations concerning a serious form of a disease, condition, ailment or defect (e.g. epilepsy) are restricted representations under the Act. Given the prohibitions on advertising medicinal cannabis products to consumers, the TGA has not authorised the use of prohibited or restricted representations in consumer advertising for these products.