A company with direct ties to telehealth clinic Dispensed has been accused of targeting vulnerable veterans with offers of free medicinal cannabis while providing minimal medical oversight.
VeteranCann, which shares a registered address with Dispensed, allegedly sent one patient 14 bottles of oil — half of which contained THC — within a single month, following just one call with a doctor.
According to the allegations, the company continued sending medicine to the 35-year-old army veteran even after he disclosed that he had developed an addiction.
The claims stem from an ABC investigation, the most recent in a string of critical reports about the medicinal cannabis sector to appear in mainstream media over recent weeks.
The report alleges that veterans were targeted through social media advertisements promoting "natural therapies" purportedly "backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs".
One patient is quoted describing being in a "borderline drug-induced psychosis", having taken sick leave, and feeling like a "zombie" as a result of being over-prescribed medication.
Even after notifying VeteranCann about his situation, he allegedly received a further two shipments of medicinal cannabis.
"What is wrong with this system? Why should addictive medication be sent three times to a drug-addicted veteran?" he was quoted as saying.
The ABC said it spoke with multiple veterans who accused "major industry players" of exploitative conduct.
A separate veteran claimed she had a 20-minute consultation with a VeteranCann nurse before a doctor she had never spoken with prescribed her THC oil.
She also described receiving "weird" text messages from the company encouraging her to take up the "free" medicine on offer.
VeteranCann told the ABC the messages came from a "trained and experienced veteran advocate" engaged to "onboard veterans", but apologised for them, saying they "should not have been sent".
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is understood to have opened an investigation into the matter.
VeteranCann is owned by an individual named Nicolas Panek, and its registered address in Dandenong, Victoria is the same as that of Dispensed and a wholly-owned entity called VeteranCann Clinic.
Dispensed founder Adam Younes, who was banned in September from dispensing schedule 8 medicine, is the sole director of VeteranCann Clinic.
This is the latest controversy to surround Dispensed after it emerged last month that the clinic was under investigation following allegations that one of its doctors had inappropriately prescribed THC to a patient who later died by suicide.
Two doctors were suspended alongside Younes in connection with that matter.
The latest ABC investigation also included further damaging allegations, with the outlet reporting that Panek had posted abusive and misogynistic content on Facebook.
Upon being made aware of the posts, VeteranCann Clinic said it "immediately ceased" its relationship with Panek, describing the content as "abhorrent".
