Well placed and found @crabbe21 saved me time to bring that content toward....and @MStien this was discussed and articulated in past threads...and changes have been made by federal laws to import and export...
The new Regulations would allow:the export of medicinal cannabis productsthe supply of cannabis produced under a Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 (the ND Act) medicinal to the holder of a Therapeutic Good Act 1989 (TG Act) manufacture pac6ckaging of the dried herbal product.
The decision to allow export is in recognition that export has always been envisaged within the design of the ND Act, and was mentioned as a future pathway in the Explanatory Memorandum which accompanied the original Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016.
Consultation with existing licence holders and with potential industry entrants made it clear that industry was of the view that enabling the export market would allow for scaled approaches to cultivation and production and would be directly economically beneficial to the industry as well as provide a "critical mass" to enable the availability of a range of products for Australian patients.
As a consequence, licences allowing export will be conditioned requiring the licence holder to demonstrate domestic supply was as accessible by doctors for the range of products to be exported.
The second major change, allowing cannabis produced under an ND Act licence to then be processed and packaged by a TG Act manufacturer, was introduced in recognition that medicinal cannabis is defined under the ND Act as including any part of the cannabis plant.
This change was required to reduce ambiguity around prescription of raw cannabis to domestic patients from a domestic supply, and make it clear that this is supported in law.
From June 2017, the Office of Drug Control (ODC) sought comment from interested parties on the export of Australian cultivated and manufactured medicinal cannabis products.
The policy to allow export has been specifically designed to focus on enabling export of medicinal cannabis that has been manufactured, or of raw cannabis that has been dose controlled and packaged.
There are two categories of value added ("manufactured") medicinal cannabis products:those which have been manufactured under a manufacturing licence issued under the ND Actthose that have been prepared for patient access through standardisation of cannabinoid content and conformance with good manufacturing practices under manufacture licences granted under the TG Act
The first such category is purified oils, tinctures or extractions of cannabinoids for further preparation (such as refined cannabidiol or tetrahydrocannabinol) manufactured under the ND Act.
The second category is dried and packaged raw cannabis that has been quality assured for cannabinoid contents and dose controlled for prescribed delivery under good manufacture practices provided in the TGA Act.
