-Some Tasmanians with severe epilepsy will be legally able to medicate with cannabis from September, with funding for a controlled access scheme to be announced in the state budget on Thursday.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the $3.75 million would provide specialised staff to administer medicinal cannabis to patients.

"[The money will] enable the comprehensive clinical assessment of patients with severe epilepsy who may be eligible for medical cannabis, due to being non-responsive to mainstream medications," he said.

"Specialists will consider the scheme's rules, including patient safety and appropriateness for the individual case.

"Importantly, the funding will also improve the treatment of children and young people with severe epilepsy by recruiting more expert staff to support our neurology specialists and increasing the testing and treatment options available."

Mr Ferguson said the benefits were still largely unproven and general practitioners (GPs) did not want the responsibility of prescribing it.

"The GP is the person who can write a referral to a medical specialist, and in this case it would be neurologists, and that's what the funding will be used for to put on a larger team of people who can then receive those referrals, because no doubt we'll have a lot of people interested," he said.

Greens' concerned guidelines too narrow

The Tasmanian Greens have used parliamentary Question Time to raise concerns about the Government's medicinal cannabis policy, quizzing the Premier over whether it was too narrow.

Greens MP Andrea Dawkins said it was a positive step, but asked what would happen to other patients who would benefit from the effects of medicinal cannabis.

"How will cancer patients suffering the effects of chemotherapy or radiation therapy access cannabis?" she asked.

"Or patients with terminal illness, with eating disorders, arthritis, or any of the other conditions [for which] cannabis has proven beneficial."

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the scheme was not restricted to epilepsy.

"Medical specialists will be able to seek authority to prescribe these products for any condition they think could be assisted," he said.

Premier Will Hodgman said Labor and the Greens had their chance to act on medicinal cannabis but did not.

"In the four years Labor and the Greens were in government, including under the leadership of Lara Giddings, the only thing that happened was one letter," he said.



A Tasmanian company that has been approved to produce medicinal cannabis expects the first products legally manufactured in the country would be available for sale by early 2018 at the latest.