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27 May 2024

PRESS RELEASE

Montu and CCA advocate for patients at Victorian Inquiry into Workplace Drug Testing

Person wearing gloves holds a testing jar with coloured indicator strips

Australia's leading health tech business, Montu, last week appeared alongside industry association Cannabis Council Australia to support patients’ interests at the state government Inquiry into workplace drug testing in Victoria.


Speaking on behalf of both Montu and Cannabis Council Australia - of which Montu is a founding member - Government Relations Manager, Matthew McCrone, spoke to the Inquiry Committee in support of fairness and natural justice for medical cannabis patients.


“While Montu supports the current legal requirements for workplace strategies to protect employees in safety-critical roles, we are of the view that the current framework is unsatisfactory. The scope of substances included in workplace screening, along with the approach of testing for mere presence - rather than impairment - is discriminatory, and needs to be updated,” he said.


“We have put forward what a best practice workplace screening model would include, with due process and natural justice at its core - and suggested potentially expanding testing to include other prescription medicines which impact cognition, as well as developing separate tests which measure cognitive impairment.”


The Inquiry was held over two days - 20 and 21 May - and its findings will inform an investigation of the legislative and regulatory framework for workplace drug testing in Victoria. A number of considerations were presented to the Committee, including the current treatment of prescription medical cannabis compared to other prescription medications, whether the existing framework for occupational health and safety and workplace drug testing may be improved to benefit medical cannabis patients, and whether current workplace drug testing laws and procedures are discriminatory.


Matthew McCrone has a pharmacist background, as well as 23 years working in senior positions for both the Australian and Victorian governments. He was Senior Pharmacist at the Therapeutic Goods Administration, held a position as the Chief Medicines Regulator in Victoria, led the taskforce which legalised medical cannabis in Victoria in 2015, and also led the implementation of SafeScript in Victoria.


Mr McCrone was pleased that Montu and Cannabis Council Australia could appear to represent the interests of tens of thousands of patients across Victoria.


“We hear every day from people who are severely impacted by this legislation, such as patients unable to maintain full-time employment as they do not feel able to go without their pain medication, and others who simply live in fear of being randomly tested at work, despite holding non-safety critical roles.


“Alongside the push to reform our driving laws, this will continue to be some of our most important advocacy work for all patients, as we continue to lead the medical cannabis industry in Australia.”


Founded in 2019, Montu is Australia's leading health tech business with a focus on medical cannabis therapies.


For more information about Cannabis Council Australia, visit cannabiscouncil.org.au.

For more information, contact: 

media@montu.com.au

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