Paramedics Allowed to Prescribe and Administer Prescription Drugs
Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Paramedic Practitioners) Bill 2024
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Council
Assent
Topics
controlled substances healthcare regulation medical poisons paramedic practice prescription drug monitoring
Introduced by: Mary-Anne Thomas MP (ALP); The Hon Ingrid Stitt MLC (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
Paramedic practitioners are authorized to obtain, possess, use, sell, or supply Schedule 2, 3, 4, or 8 poisons approved by the Health Minister.
Registered paramedics lose their authorization to handle specific poisons if the Paramedicine Board of Australia imposes a prohibiting condition or restriction.
Paramedic practitioners are granted access to the monitored poisons database.
Paramedic practitioners must take all reasonable steps to check the monitored poisons database before prescribing or supplying a monitored supply poison to a person.
Paramedic practitioners face a penalty of 100 penalty units (2026: $20,910) for failing to check the monitored poisons database before supplying a monitored supply poison.
It is a criminal offence for a paramedic practitioner to administer or supply Schedule 8 poisons in violation of the Principal Act, regardless of whether the person is drug-dependent.
It is a criminal offence for a paramedic practitioner to fail to comply with the conditions of a Schedule 8 permit.