NICM HRI Symposium 2021: Medicinal Cannabis

Featuring leading speakers from government, research, academia, and industry, this programme is designed to showcase current Australian research and provide insights and discussion into regulatory development and education regarding medicinal cannabis.

Programme

> Download the symposium programme (PDF, 1251.99 KB) (opens in a new window)

• Opening session commences, 9.30am AEST
• Final session concludes, 4.30pm AEST

Keynotes

• DR RICHARD DI NATALE, Former Federal  Senator for Victoria and Former Leader of the Australian Greens; Chair of Medicinal Cannabis Health Advisory Council, Medicinal Cannabis Industry Association; Public Health Advisor in Community Health.

Medicinal cannabis in Australia – where have we come from and where are we going?

In 2016 the Australian parliament legalised the growing of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purpose and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) later rescheduled cannabis from a prohibited substance to one where, in theory at least, any medical practitioner can prescribe medicinal cannabis. However, there continue to be significant barriers to access for patients. Dr Di Natale will discuss the recent legislative reforms and what still needs to be done to improve access for patients.

• ADJUNCT PROFESSOR CAROLINE MACCALLUM, Internal Medicine Specialist, Clinical Instructor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Community Internal Medicine and Adjunct Professor Faculty Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Member Division of Palliative Care, University of British Columbia.

Cannabis safety updates; impairment, opioids and patient complexities

Adjunct Professor MacCallum will highlight her 2021 seminal publications including; Duration of neurocognitive impairment with medical cannabis use; a scoping review (Frontiers Psychiatry), Practical strategies using medical cannabis to reduce harms associated with long term opioid use in chronic pain (Frontiers Pharmacology) and “Is medical cannabis safe for my patients?” A practical review of cannabis safety considerations (European Journal of Internal Medicine).

Key speakers

• ADJUNCT PROFESSOR JOHN SKERRITT, Deputy Secretary, Health Products Regulation Group, Department of Health, Australian Government.
• FIONA PATTEN, MP, Member for Northern Metropolitan Region in the Victorian Parliament’s Legislative Council and Federal Leader of the Reason Party.
• DR DANIEL PERKINS, Co-Director, Psychae Institute; Adjunct Associate Professor, Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University; Honorary Research Fellow, School of Social and Political Science, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne; Former Director of the Office of Medicinal Cannabis in the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.
• ADJUNCT PROFESSOR DAVID HEILPERN, former Magistrate, Professional Practice Professor and Adjunct Professor at the School of Law and Justice at Southern Cross University.
• PROFESSOR TIM KARL, Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University.
• ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JONATHON ARNOLD, Associate Director of Preclinical Research, The Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney; Group Leader, The Cannabinoid Research Group, The University of Sydney; and Associate Professor of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Bosch Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney.
• PROFESSOR XU-FENG HUANG, NHMRC Research Leadership Fellow, Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, and Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence.
• PROFESSOR IAIN MCGREGOR, Academic Director and Director of Preclinical Research, The Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney; Professor of Psychopharmacology, School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney and NHMRC Professorial Research Fellow.
• PROFESSOR JENNIFER MARTIN, Chair of Clinical Pharmacology and Head of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle; and Director, Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence.
• ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR GENEVIEVE STEINER, Research Director, NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University.

> Download the abstracts and speaker profiles (PDF, 3202.8 KB) (opens in a new window)

Further details

WHEN: Thursday, 12 August 2021

TIME: 9.30am-4.30pm AEST

WHERE: Virtual via Zoom

COST: $99 (registration), $59 (registration for student)

This symposium is open to researchers, academics, students and industry with an interest in the evolving medicinal cannabis research space.

Registrations closed 4 August 2021.

Upon booking a symposium ticket, a Zoom link will be sent to you by email one week prior to the virtual symposium from NICM Health Research Institute. A reminder email will also be sent a day before and an hour prior to the event commencing.

Symposium refund and cancellation policy

All refund requests must be made in writing to nicm@westernsydney.edu.au

Refund requests will be granted as follows:

• Full refund is available until 5 August 2021, with partial (50%) refund thereafter.

NICM HRI Medicinal Cannabis 2021 Symposium contact information:

• General enquiries: nicm@westernsydney.edu.au