Veterans prescribed 'unheard of' amounts of cannabis by unseen doctors

A veteran was prescribed 'unheard of' amounts of medicinal cannabis by doctors he never spoke to, in a case that has raised concerns about the aggressive targeting of veterans by for-profit healthcare providers.

Steve Johnstone, an army medic who served in Afghanistan, was prescribed high-strength THC cannabis products without his direct input or consent, leading to a deterioration in his mental health and a near-fatal crisis.

How it happened

After returning from service in 2012, Steve struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain, and substance abuse, which were accepted by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) as linked to his service.

By 2024, Steve had made significant progress under the care of a psychiatrist and a local GP, but he continued to suffer from chronic back pain.

That was when he saw an ad for VeteranCann, a company offering 'free natural health' services and treatments funded by the DVA.

Steve spoke to a VeteranCann nurse who went through his DVA-accepted conditions, and he was subsequently connected with a pain specialist for a quick DVA-funded phone call.

The pain specialist was the only doctor Steve spoke to, and less than a month later, his prescribing doctor applied to the DVA for funding to increase Steve's dose of THC from 25mg per day to 1,220mg.

Three experienced medicinal cannabis prescribers described the dose as 'unacceptably high' and 'ghastly', with concerns about Steve's history of substance abuse and chronic pain.

Vicki Kotsirilos, a Melbourne-based GP and associate professor, described it as "ghastly". "These are unacceptably high doses of THC and there's a real concern with looking after patients with histories of substance abuse and chronic pain without seeing the patient," she said.

The consequences

As Steve's high-strength cannabis continued arriving in large quantities, he had only monthly check-ins with a nurse, who would ask about his remaining supply and send more product.

"The nurse would say to me, 'How much have you got left?' And if I had some left, I'd say, 'Look, just send me my allocated dose,'" he said. "They basically had a shopping cart for me … I'd say, 'Give us the highest dose you have.'"

Steve became addicted to the high-strength cannabis, taking more than recommended and consuming huge quantities of gummy pastilles prescribed to him.

"[I] started getting real paranoid," he said. "I just would see things on the news of different attacks and think someone's gonna come and attack me."

A broader problem?

The DVA spent a record $10 billion on compensation and another $5 billion on care last year, with the amount spent on medicinal cannabis more than tripling to $125 million in the last three years.

Companies like VeteranCann are generally paid more by the DVA when prescribing more products or higher doses of THC.

Other veterans, like Andrea and Daryl Duckett, have also reported being aggressively targeted by for-profit providers, including with offers of ketamine treatments.

A call for change

Ashanti, Steve's wife, desperately tried to contact doctors at Total Veteran Healthcare (TVH), who were meant to be managing his care.

"It was just getting worse and worse … I was telling them, 'I don't know how to deal with a situation like this. I don't know how to deal with someone that's suicidal,'" she said.

The investigation has found multiple examples of for-profit companies signing up veterans for DVA-funded treatment and getting them to move their coordinated veteran care (CVC) plans away from their usual treating GP.