Course catalogue
27 modules. You complete 21: the 15-module core, then the six-module pathway for your profession. Doctor and pharmacist pathways are separate; you choose one after the core and it is the one your certificate names. Hours are notional study time.
| Path | Modules | Study time |
|---|---|---|
| Core, everyone | 15 | 44 h |
| Doctor pathway | 6 | 17 h |
| Pharmacist pathway | 6 | 18 h |
| Your path | 21 | about 60 h |
The two pathways
D1 – D6
Doctor pathway
6 modules, prescribers
6 modules17 h
P1 – P5, P7
Pharmacist pathway
6 modules, dispensers and compounders
6 modules18 h
Core — 15 modules, everyone
- Locked M1 History, botany & the chemovar framework The plant's medical history, how it makes cannabinoids, and the chemovar framework that replaces strain names. 2 h
- Locked M2 The endocannabinoid system Components, operation, and receptor distribution of the endocannabinoid system, and why mechanism alone does not make a therapy. 2 h
- Locked M3 Cannabinoid pharmacology: PK and PD THC and CBD absorption by route, metabolism, pharmacodynamics, tolerance, and the CYP450 basis of interactions. 4 h
- Locked M4 Product quality and the Certificate of Analysis Reading and judging a lot-specific Certificate of Analysis: potency, contaminants, verification, and storage. 3 h
- Locked M5 Dosage forms, routes of administration and the South African product reality Dosage-form and route vocabulary, how route changes pharmacokinetics, and what a South African patient can actually obtain. 2 h
- Locked M6 Dosing principles and titration Start low, go slow: the biphasic dose-response that makes titration the rule, and a worked titration plan. 2 h
- Locked M7 Evidence base and indications, with appraisal methodology A critical-appraisal toolkit, indications mapped by certainty of evidence, and the uses and limits of real-world evidence. 8 h
- Locked M8 Safety I: adverse effects, cannabis use disorder and acute toxicity The adverse-effect profile, screening for cannabis use disorder and raised risk, and recognising acute toxicity and hyperemesis. 3 h
- Locked M9 Safety II: drug interactions and contraindication screening The pharmacokinetic basis of cannabinoid-drug interactions, screening a regimen, and the monitoring plan that follows. 3 h
- Locked M10 Special populations Pregnancy, lactation, renal and hepatic impairment, older adults, and HIV: weighing risk against benefit and naming the evidence gaps. 3 h
- Locked M11 SA legal and regulatory framework: Section 21 taught once The course's full treatment of South African access law: why Section 21 applies, the scheduling context, the authorisation lifecycle, and look-alike routes. 4 h
- Locked M12 Global regulatory models and WHO rescheduling The international families of medical-cannabis access, the trade-offs each makes, and rescheduling under the 1961 Single Convention. 2 h
- Locked M13 Professional ethics and law (HPCSA and SAPC), with caregiver consent The two councils' conduct codes and the informed-consent standard, including caregiver and proxy consent. 2 h
- Locked M14 Patient communication and shared decision-making Structuring a shared decision, confirming understanding with teach-back, and communicating benefit, harm, and uncertainty without distortion. 2 h
- Locked M15 Duty to report and pharmacovigilance The duty to report suspected adverse reactions, the reporting pathway and timing, and how single reports become national safety signals. 2 h
Doctor pathway — 6 modules, prescribers
- Locked D1 Clinical decision-making and patient selection The refractory-only selection principle, screening against absolute and relative contraindications, and deciding on a time-limited therapeutic trial. 3 h
- Locked D2 Treatment planning, titration and monitoring Setting goals and baselines, reading response at follow-up, and a monitoring plan across the treatment timeline. 3 h
- Locked D3 Psychiatric workup: risk stratification, suicidality and the referral decision The psychiatric harm evidence, history and risk stratification including suicidality, and a safety plan with escalation and referral criteria. 3 h
- Locked D4 Impairment, forensic and workplace What a positive cannabis test does and does not prove, impairment frameworks and the South African position, and fitness-for-duty questions. 2 h
- Locked D5 Section 21 prescriber execution and lifecycle Assembling and lodging a Section 21 application, operating a granted authorisation, and deciding whether to reauthorise, re-apply, or exit. 3 h
- Locked D6 The prescribing act: writing the Schedule 6 script Writing a Regulation 33-compliant prescription, the Schedule 6 rules on validity, quantity, and repeats, and testing the script's defensibility. 3 h
Pharmacist pathway — 6 modules, dispensers and compounders
- Locked P1 Controlled-substance handling: GPP, three-phase dispensing, S5 and S6 The authority to hold Schedule 5 and 6 stock, receipt, storage, and security controls, and the registers that make handling auditable. 3 h
- Locked P2 Labelling for unregistered Section 21 products: PIL and patient information The label particulars required on an unregistered Section 21 medicine, the professional and patient information that accompanies it, and verifying compliance before supply. 2 h
- Locked P3 Compounding and stability: the international best-practice frame Magistral compounding and starting-material specification, beyond-use dates and storage conditions, and an auditable compounding-and-stability protocol. 3 h
- Locked P4 Pharmacovigilance and dispensing-time screening The dispensing-time interaction and contraindication screen, acting on a flag, recognising adverse reactions, and the counselling touchpoint. 3 h
- Locked P5 GMP, GWP, GDP and recall at pharmacy scale The manufacture and distribution quality systems a pharmacy relies on, and recognising, quarantining, and responding to a recall or quality defect. 2 h
- Locked P7 The dispensing act: receiving, dispensing, recording and closing out the Schedule 6 supply Receiving and verifying a Schedule 6 script, the supply conditions, the three-phase dispense, labelling, recording, and closing out unused stock. 5 h