00:00Endometriosis and multiple sclerosis left Alice Davie bedridden, then she found medicinal
00:11cannabis.
00:12I'm no longer in debilitating pain, I eat, I sleep, I don't have any nausea.
00:18She says she's experienced no side effects from medicinal cannabis, her positive health
00:22outcome leading to advocacy and a tilt at federal politics as a candidate for the legalised
00:28cannabis party.
00:29She's shocked the medicines regulator has not investigated hundreds of reports of unintentional
00:35and potentially harmful side effects or adverse events in patients.
00:38How are we supposed to be able to know what's safe and what's not if there's no tests being
00:44done?
00:45Over the past three years, the Therapeutic Goods Administration received 615 reports of adverse
00:51events for unapproved medicinal cannabis products.
00:54Anxiety was the most commonly reported side effect, with psychotic disorders, paranoia
01:00and hallucination also in the top ten.
01:03Addressing an adverse event to the TGA does not necessarily mean the medicine caused the
01:08slight effect.
01:09The regulator says it monitors all adverse event reports and has the power to investigate
01:14the safety of unapproved medicinal cannabis products.
01:17But to date, no red flags have been detected and no investigations have occurred.
01:23The chair of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association says the 615 adverse events are not
01:28necessarily cause for concern.
01:31The percentage of adverse events is really rare compared to the number of units that have
01:37been actually sold of medicinal cannabis.
01:39Psychiatrist Brett Emerson has been raising the alarm about an increase in medicinal cannabis
01:44patients experiencing psychotic episodes.
01:47Medicinal cannabis, which is marketed by the companies as a green natural product with no significant
01:53risks, has significant risks.
01:55The TGA announced a review into the safety and regulation of medicinal cannabis last month.
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