{"id":25049,"date":"2024-02-12T04:17:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T04:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prnasia.com\/story\/archive\/4333374_AE33374_0"},"modified":"2024-02-12T04:17:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T04:17:00","slug":"opioids-kill-3-aussies-a-day-while-fewer-than-5-of-doctors-prescribe-medical-cannabis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049","title":{"rendered":"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day &#8211; while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p id=\"temp_ReleaseStart\"><span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-location\">MELBOURNE, Australia<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-chron\">Feb. 12, 2024<\/span><\/span> \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; A recent survey by&nbsp;Alternaleaf, <span class=\"xn-location\">Australia&#8217;s<\/span> largest medical cannabis clinic, has revealed that 80% of Australian patients want more doctors to prescribe medical cannabis.<\/p>\n<p>An estimated 5% of Australian doctors prescribe medical cannabis<sup>[1]<\/sup> &#8211; even though Alternaleaf survey data has found that 62% of patients stopped taking other pain medication after starting medical cannabis treatment<sup>[2]<\/sup>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Though recent statistics indicate that three people a day die from drug-induced deaths involving opioid use<sup>[3]<\/sup>, many Alternaleaf patients found that their general practitioners were unwilling to even discuss the prospect of prescribing medical cannabis.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;My doctor told me he wouldn&#8217;t prescribe it,&quot; said Mei*.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;He refused to even say the word.&quot;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For Hunter*, the journey to finding a viable form of pain relief has been harder than most.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I have a high tolerance to opioids after being on them for twenty years to treat my chronic pain,&quot; he explained.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;My doctor recommended opioid pain relief alongside my antidepressants, but all it did was make me put on weight, which made my chronic pain worse. When I tried talking to several doctors about medical cannabis as an option, all they did was shrug off my suggestions and suggest a different opioid.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Since being on medical cannabis, I don&#8217;t use my opioids as much, and I&#8217;m not seeing a doctor every two weeks for a new script &#8211; I also don&#8217;t get side effects from it.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"xn-person\">Rhys Staley<\/span>, Vice President of Montu, the parent company of Alternaleaf, has urged doctors to consider prescribing medical cannabis to eligible patients.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Every day, Alternaleaf doctors see patients who have benefited from making the switch to medical cannabis,&quot; Staley said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If more doctors were as comfortable prescribing medical cannabis as they are opioid and other pharmaceutical medication for pain relief, Australian patients wouldn&#8217;t have to suffer unnecessarily when looking for alternatives.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Clinical education should encompass the full range of pain relief medication, so that medical professionals can offer an array of treatment options to find the best fit for their patients&#8217; needs.&quot;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montu.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">montu.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>*<i>Patient names changed for privacy reasons.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>About Alternaleaf<br \/><\/b>Alternaleaf is <span class=\"xn-location\">Australia&#8217;s<\/span> largest medical cannabis clinic, trusted by more than 100,000 Australians. Connecting patients with highly trained nurses and doctors through an innovative telehealth system, Alternaleaf prides itself on its easy-to-use and empathetic clinical experience.<\/p>\n<p><b>About Montu<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2019, Montu is <span class=\"xn-location\">Australia&#8217;s<\/span> leading medical cannabis company. Across a rapidly growing ecosystem, Montu is using technology to improve the medical cannabis patient experience, from delivering best-in-class clinical care, to our industry-leading product lines and innovative supply chain management tools. Our mission: to make medical cannabis more affordable and accessible for the millions who could benefit.<\/p>\n<p><b>Contact<\/b><\/p>\n<p>For more information or interview opportunities, please contact:<\/p>\n<p><b><span class=\"xn-person\">Maggie Kerr<\/span> &#8211; Communications Advisor<br \/><\/b><b><u><a href=\"mailto:maggie.k@montu.com.au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">maggie.k@montu.com.au<\/a><br \/><\/u><\/b><b>0457 097 772<\/b><\/p>\n<p><sup>[1]<\/sup><i> Comparison of <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/dashboard-data.health.gov.au\/single\/?appid=1066afbe-2b37-427d-8c47-2caa5082cccc&amp;sheet=088f611b-10de-4d72-be68-ccf8d12c54e9&amp;select=clearall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><i>SAS-B TGA Authorised Prescriber<\/i><\/a><i> and <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.gov.au\/topics\/doctors-and-specialists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><i>Department of Health and Aged Care<\/i><\/a><i> data<br \/><\/i><sup>[2]<\/sup> <i>Data compiled from more than 3000 Alternleaf patient responses to an <span class=\"xn-chron\">August 2023<\/span> survey about chronic pain<br \/><\/i><sup>[3]<\/sup> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aihw.gov.au\/reports\/illicit-use-of-drugs\/opioid-harm-in-australia\/summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><i>Australian Institute of Health and Welfare<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb. 12, 2024 \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; A recent survey by&nbsp;Alternaleaf, Australia&#8217;s largest medical cannabis clinic, has revealed that 80% of Australian patients want more doctors to prescribe medical cannabis. An estimated 5% of Australian doctors prescribe medical cannabis[1] &#8211; even though Alternaleaf survey data has found that 62% of patients stopped taking other pain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day - while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis - My Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day - while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis - My Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb. 12, 2024 \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; A recent survey by&nbsp;Alternaleaf, Australia&#8217;s largest medical cannabis clinic, has revealed that 80% of Australian patients want more doctors to prescribe medical cannabis. An estimated 5% of Australian doctors prescribe medical cannabis[1] &#8211; even though Alternaleaf survey data has found that 62% of patients stopped taking other pain [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"My Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-12T04:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_tony\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_tony\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin_tony\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5b51d407d652c0aa802bea269ea5d7e7\"},\"headline\":\"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day &#8211; while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-12T04:17:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049\"},\"wordCount\":536,\"articleSection\":[\"Business News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049\",\"name\":\"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day - while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis - My Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-12T04:17:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5b51d407d652c0aa802bea269ea5d7e7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?p=25049#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day &#8211; while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/\",\"name\":\"My Blog\",\"description\":\"My WordPress Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5b51d407d652c0aa802bea269ea5d7e7\",\"name\":\"admin_tony\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/102836fe5f9cd6c64e96e90e7341dbc815b7d12726a85708326dc0db40afd906?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/102836fe5f9cd6c64e96e90e7341dbc815b7d12726a85708326dc0db40afd906?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/102836fe5f9cd6c64e96e90e7341dbc815b7d12726a85708326dc0db40afd906?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_tony\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/transmediavictoria.net.au\\\/?author=8\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day - while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis - My Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day - while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis - My Blog","og_description":"MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb. 12, 2024 \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; A recent survey by&nbsp;Alternaleaf, Australia&#8217;s largest medical cannabis clinic, has revealed that 80% of Australian patients want more doctors to prescribe medical cannabis. An estimated 5% of Australian doctors prescribe medical cannabis[1] &#8211; even though Alternaleaf survey data has found that 62% of patients stopped taking other pain [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049","og_site_name":"My Blog","article_published_time":"2024-02-12T04:17:00+00:00","author":"admin_tony","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_tony","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049"},"author":{"name":"admin_tony","@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/#\/schema\/person\/5b51d407d652c0aa802bea269ea5d7e7"},"headline":"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day &#8211; while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis","datePublished":"2024-02-12T04:17:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049"},"wordCount":536,"articleSection":["Business News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049","url":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049","name":"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day - while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis - My Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-02-12T04:17:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/#\/schema\/person\/5b51d407d652c0aa802bea269ea5d7e7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?p=25049#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Opioids kill 3 Aussies a day &#8211; while fewer than 5% of doctors prescribe medical cannabis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/#website","url":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/","name":"My Blog","description":"My WordPress Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/#\/schema\/person\/5b51d407d652c0aa802bea269ea5d7e7","name":"admin_tony","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102836fe5f9cd6c64e96e90e7341dbc815b7d12726a85708326dc0db40afd906?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102836fe5f9cd6c64e96e90e7341dbc815b7d12726a85708326dc0db40afd906?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102836fe5f9cd6c64e96e90e7341dbc815b7d12726a85708326dc0db40afd906?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_tony"},"url":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/?author=8"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transmediavictoria.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}