As a nurse who has worked at the frontline of both traditional and cannabinoid-based care, I’ve witnessed the real-world consequences of our system’s slow and inconsistent uptake of medicinal cannabis policy.

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Despite medicinal cannabis being legal and regulated in Australia since 2016, nurses are still left in the dark. We are expected to care for patients who use these medicines, many with prescriptions, TGA approval, and long-standing treatment plans,  yet we receive little to no formal education on safe administration, pharmacology, or legal considerations. In some hospitals, prescribed cannabis is treated like contraband. I’ve seen nurses confiscate patient medicine, refuse to chart or report it, and even call security, not out of malice, but out of fear and confusion.

The new Ahpra guidelines for prescribers are a step in the right direction, there is no room for bad practice. However they don’t go far enough to support the wider multidisciplinary team. Nurses are the bridge between prescriber and patient. We monitor for efficacy, advocate for comfort, and uphold patient dignity. We must be empowered to act safely and ethically when it comes to cannabis,  not be sidelined by stigma.

We also need to talk about safety. Patients are often forced to hide their use, skip doses, or revert to opioids in hospital settings simply because staff don’t know what to do. This isn’t just a policy issue; it’s a patient harm issue.

The release of the 2025 ICN new definition of nursing emphasises that nursing is a profession dedicated to upholding everyone’s right to health through collaborative, culturally safe, people-centred care. It underscores the role of nurses in advocacy, policy development, and leadership, moving beyond task-based care to address broader health determinants. As nurses we need to heed that call. 

I work with patients who have been stable on cannabinoids for years. They’re cancer survivors, chronic pain warriors, veterans with PTSD. They deserve evidence-based, compassionate care and so do the nurses who support them. Until cannabinoid education becomes part of core nursing curricula and hospital policy catches up with legislation, we will continue to place patients and nurses in ethically compromising positions.

It’s time we start treating medicinal cannabis with the same clinical respect as any other prescribed therapy. Nurses have a vital role in this shift. We are educators, advocates, and leaders and we must not be afraid to speak up.

We need to contribute and give feedback so policy changes are undertaken collaboratively and not in a knee-jerk reaction to a small set of practitioners doing the wrong thing. 

Deb Ranson is a Clinical Nurse Consultant, co-founder of the Australian Cannabis Nurses Association and a medicinal cannabis educator and advocate