Alternative Medicine

Legal experts are among those criticising immediate loss-of-licence laws that apply if a person tests positive to any level of medicinal cannabis, as a parliamentary inquiry unanimously calls for change.

In a region with soaring dialysis rates, these Aboriginal women are brewing traditional bush medicine to bring comfort.

Ads for products purporting to address the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause are flooding social media — but many of the claims "are not substantiated", a Senate inquiry is told. 

Laws around cannabis use are changing in countries like France and Germany, and Australian farmers are hoping to capitalise. 

Experts are worried about a proliferation of "single-issue" cannabis clinics opening in Australia, some of them willing to prescribe via telehealth consultations with few checks.

Sarah Frare had surgery and 28 rounds of chemotherapy before signing up for a trial that hopes to extend survival rates for the most common and almost always fatal form of brain cancer.

Australia has about 50 cultivators of medicinal cannabis but only a handful are grown outdoors in the sun. 

It is hoped MDMA — the active ingredient in the recreational drug ecstasy — will help flood survivors find self-compassion and relief as part of a trial funded by the federal government.

Unregulated psychedelic medicines and therapies have been thrust into the spotlight, following the death of a woman at an alternative wellness centre in country Victoria,

The death of a Melbourne woman after consuming a drink made with mushrooms has prompted fresh warnings against the use of mushrooms as medicines without proper expertise and cautions against mushroom foraging.

Over 1.2 million Australians have used medicinal cannabis, but the industry says cheap imports aren't regulated properly meaning consumers don't know what they're getting.

Yoga has long been thought of as a method for flexibility, but it also emphasises inclusivity, with participants pointing out that the practice can be noticeably different from the way it is sometimes portrayed on social media.

Australia's peak medical bodies say medicinal cannabis is being sold over the internet with virtually no quality control or safety standards.

The court said it was not convinced by an "unqualified apology" the guru's company filed last month, which described some Indian drug laws as "archaic".

Natasha Lechner died of heart failure just minutes after taking part in a kambo ritual, with the NSW coroner finding the giant tree frog poison can cause death in healthy people as well as those with pre-existing conditions.

Twelve months ago Australia became the first country in the world to allow the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs, but the the jury is still out on the role they will play.

An inquest into the death of Jarrad Antonovich at a spiritual retreat in 2021 has been adjourned after a number of fresh witnesses contacted police.

In 2023 Australia's TGA made the decision to take some psychedelic drugs off the prohibited list but the medical fraternity is split over the expectation of what they can do for people versus the reality of prescribing them.

A coroner in Byron Bay is examining the death of Jarrad Antonovich after he used kambo and the psychedelic substance ayahuasca at the event in 2021.

A woman who was with Jarrad Antonovich at a psychedelic retreat in NSW tells an inquest she raised concerns about the 46-year-old's condition, but the response led her to ignore her instincts.