Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association

“Our strength is in our breadth”

Our story

The Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA) was founded in mid-2020 by a group of pioneers, ambassadors and stakeholders from the breadth of the medicinal cannabis sector working together to improve patient access and to support and advocate for the Australian medicinal cannabis industry.

AMCA provides the framework and support for the association to assist committed individuals and organisations to steer the industry and sector in a positive direction. We believe it is essential to have a broad mix of members with a wide skill set to meet the evolving needs of the medicinal cannabis industry.

AMCA members include patients, healthcare professionals, clinics, researchers, medicinal cannabis cultivators and manufacturers, professional service providers (legal, financial, IT, consultants), and allied service providers (eg. manufacturing equipment suppliers, testing laboratories).

Our Vision

To see Australia leading the world in quality, affordable and accessible medicinal cannabis.

Our Mission

To unite and empower committed individuals and organisations to ensure that Australia’s medicinal cannabis system is world class and patient focused.

What we stand for

Our Board

Dr Teresa Nicoletti

Chair and Co-Founder of AMCA

Dr Teresa Nicoletti is a lawyer and PhD-qualified scientist with 25 years’ experience in the health and life sciences sector.

Teresa leads Mills Oakley’s Intellectual Property, Health and Life Sciences team, advising clients across their businesses, and drawing on her unique mix of legal, regulatory, scientific and commercial expertise to obtain the best possible outcomes. She regularly represents clients in dealings with the TGA, state and territory health and food authorities, the APVMA, NICNAS, ACCC, HCCC, medical and pharmacy boards, AHPRA, VCAT and NCAT.

Teresa is listed in Legal 500 for Intellectual Property and Best Lawyers for Health & Aged Care, Life Sciences and Biotechnology, and has been recognised with numerous awards, including the highest Band 1 ranking for Life Sciences in Chambers Asia Pacific.

She is well-recognised as a pioneer in the medicinal cannabis and hemp space in Australia (Federal and State), and since 2014 has strongly advocated for a facilitative legal and regulatory framework to provide access to high-quality, safe and affordable medicinal cannabis.

Teresa sits on the government’s Medicinal Cannabis Expert Working Group (MCEWG) and is board director of several companies in the health and life sciences sector, focusing on corporate governance and compliance.

Fiona Patten

Director

Fiona has held the position of AMCA Deputy Chair since 31 October 2023.

Initially starting out as a small business owner, Fiona championed sexual rights and health movements for more than 20 years before entering Australian politics as leader of the Reason Party. She was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 2014–22 where she was credited for playing pivotal roles in achieving social reforms in Victoria, including Victoria’s assisted dying legislation and the trial of a medically supervised drug injecting room in Richmond.

Fiona has been pivotal in supporting badly needed changes to drug laws generally and for medicinal cannabis in particular. In February 2022, she introduced a bill to the Victorian upper house to decriminalise all drugs to ensure those struggling with addiction could receive help rather than condemnation.

Fiona has been a tireless advocate for medicinal cannabis patients since her time in the Victorian Parliament, advocating for patients denied access through Worksafe and TAC and introducing several amendment bills to address discriminatory driving laws. She also initiated (and chaired) an inquiry into the use of Cannabis in Victoria.

Fiona plans to continue to advocate and reduce the stigma of medicinal cannabis while improving access and understanding.

Bryan Ebstyne

Director and Co-Founder, Steering Committee member of ACM

Bryan Ebstyne is CEO of one of Australia’s largest licensed medical cannabis cultivation companies, Austranna. He was appointed to the AMCA Board in early 2023, after serving an interim role from September 2022.

He has gained extensive experience through his varied career, working in technology and communications, including as World-Wide Industry Director for Microsoft. He first entered the cannabis industry in 2014, when he co-founded, raised venture capital and led Leaph, Seattle‘s first industrial scale cannabis cultivation and processing company.

Bryan then co-founded a cannabis consultancy (Ebstyne & Roth) in Düsseldorf, Germany where as Vice President of Operations, he built and led cross-disciplinary teams to compete and successfully win Germany’s 2017 tender for cannabis cultivation licensing on behalf of MedReleaf and Aurora in 2018.

He later served as Vice President of Operations at Columbia Care Inc, overseeing expansion strategies across multiple European countries and supervising critical functions such as profit and loss, supply chain development, and execution of go-to-market initiatives.

Bryan continues his commitment to enhancing best practices in the industry through his role on the board of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association and co-leading Australian Cannabis Manufacturers, an AMCA sub-association established in March 2024.

Justin Sinclair

Director

Justin has been on the AMCA Board since AMCA was founded in mid-2020.

Justin’s scientific background is in pharmacognosy, but his research interests extend into botany, ethnopharmacology, analytical phytochemistry and psychopharmacology.

Previously a Research Fellow at the NICM Health Research Institute at the University of Western Sydney, Justin coordinated the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Research & Education Collaboration (AMCREC).

Justin is a member of the Cannabis Clinicians Australian Steering Committee and has served as a pro-bono advisor to United in Compassion since January 2015.

Justin has been Chief Scientific Officer with ANTG since 2021. He is a co-investigator on several medicinal cannabis clinical research projects and has published on the topics of cannabis and the endocannabinoid system, pain management and herb/drug interactions in peer-reviewed publications. His special research interest focused on the safety, tolerability and effectiveness of medicinal cannabis for endometriosis.

Justin has presented more than 100 lectures to medical practitioners, nurses, pharmacists and the general public since 2016.

Disclosures 1. Research Fellow, NICM Health Research Institute (NICM) at Western Sydney University. 2. Co-ordinator, Australian Medicinal Cannabis Research & Education Collaboration (AMCREC) 3. Lead, Scientific Advisory Board of United in Compassion 4. Former Scientific Advisory Board member, BioCeuticals (Resigned April 2019).

Sharon Bentley

Director

Sharon Bentley is the Founder and Managing Director of Medical Cannabis Australia (MCA), a privately-owned company licensed to cultivate, manufacture, research, import, export, and distribute medicinal cannabis. Based in Sydney, Sharon brings over 26 years of entrepreneurial experience and is recognised for her leadership, integrity, and commitment to quality and patient outcomes.

Under Sharon’s direction, MCA has built a trusted national footprint in the Australian medicinal cannabis market, with a strong focus on prescriber education, regulatory compliance, and transparent partnerships. MCA is currently launching new initiatives to support access, affordability, and innovation in cannabinoid medicines.

Sharon is a passionate advocate for a responsible and sustainable cannabis industry in Australia. She regularly collaborates with healthcare professionals, regulators, and advocacy groups to address access barriers and support evidence-based policy reform.

As a Board Member of AMCA, Sharon is committed to strengthening the voice of industry leaders who prioritise patient safety, product quality, and the long-term viability of the medicinal cannabis sector in Australia.

Lisa Nguyen

Director

Lisa Nguyen was elected to the board on 3 June 2025.

Lisa began her career in natural medicines shortly after medicinal legalisation in Australia when the regulations changed the classification of cannabis from a Schedule 9 to a Schedule 8 – making it a prescription medicine.

Lisa worked as a Medical Science Liaison for various startup companies in the field, allowing her to specialise in education. Here, she worked alongside doctors and other health care professionals to explore the therapeutic use of natural medicines in chronic pain, mood disorders and sleep.

In 2020 Lisa founded Astrid, the only female-led dispensary.

Professor Nick Lintzeris

Director

Prof Nick Lintzeris, PhD, is Conjoint Professor, Specialty Addiction Medicine at the University of Sydney and Director, Drug and Alcohol Services for the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.

With more than thirty years’ experience working in the Alcohol and other Drugs sector as a clinician (Addiction Medicine Specialist), he has been Chief Investigator of over 6 NHMRC funded RCTs for the treatment of cannabis use disorder, including the role of nabiximols.

He has also been active in medicinal cannabis research for other health conditions, and an investigator in several NSW Health and MRFF funded trials of medicinal cannabis – including in the areas of chronic pain, palliative care and chemotherapy.

Prof Lintzeris has also been the Chief Investigator of the Cannabis As Medicine Surveys (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022) examining consumer perspectives of medical cannabis in Australia, and research examining health care provider perspectives regarding medicinal cannabis. With more than 200 peer review journal publications, he has been involved in training and education of health care providers and policy, was the founding Clinical Director of the Lambert Initiative (USyd) in 2016–17 and is an active prescriber (private practice), focusing on the use of medicinal cannabis in people with cannabis use disorder.

Dr Peter Georgius

Director

After completing his basic surgical training in Melbourne in 2002, Dr Georgius achieved his Pain Fellowship in Tasmania in 2004, and his Fellowship in Rehabilitation Medicine in Melbourne in 2007.

Since 2008, he has been a Specialist Pain Medicine Physician and Specialist Rehabilitation Physician in private practice on the Sunshine Coast, also providing consultant services at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

He has extensive experience in all aspects of musculo-skeletal and neurological rehabilitation and has treated more than 1000 patients with medicinal cannabis. His scope of practice includes pain management and the rehabilitation of patients with complex conditions.

Dr Georgius offers emerging therapies for chronic pain including Medical Cannabis and Scrambler Therapy. He established and Principle Investigator and Director of Sunshine Coast Clinical Research (SCCR), a research organisation involved in national and international clinical research trials.

He is a Fellow of the Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (Faculty of Pain Medicine), Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine), Member of the International Neuromodulation Society (Australian Chapter), Member of Australian Medical Association (AMA) and Member of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP).