Dolphins tape over medicinal cannabis sponsor on legal advice

The Dolphins have taped over their front-of-jersey sponsor Alternaleaf – a medicine clinic that prescribes medicinal cannabis – on legal advice while a review of the groundbreaking partnership is conducted by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

As revealed by this masthead, the club’s arrangements with Alternaleaf, described on the website of its owner, Montu, as “Australia’s largest medical cannabis clinic”, is under the microscope for potentially breaching the Therapeutic Goods Act.

The Alternaleaf sponsorship was taped over by the Dolphins on Friday night in Darwin.

While medicinal cannabis is legal in Australia, the TGA bans advertising of prescription medicine such as medicinal cannabis, or consultations for medical cannabis as part of a health service.

In the Dolphins’ first game – against Parramatta in Darwin – since the Herald’s story, the club taped over Alternaleaf’s logo on the sternum of the players’ jerseys, though the tape on several players had fallen off by the second half in the oppressive heat.

A club spokesman confirmed the action was taken on legal advice while the TGA conducts its review of the Alternaleaf sponsorship, which displays the company’s logo on the Dolphins jerseys and at home games.

“There has obviously been some noise around this topic this week,” a club spokesperson told this masthead.

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“The Dolphins have taken some advice to be proactive until the matter can ultimately be sorted with a definite conclusion.”

The NRL was aware of the Dolphins’ actions after also being alerted to the potential for the governing body, as well as broadcasters Nine – publisher of this masthead – and Fox Sports to be potentially found in breach of the Therapeutic Goods Act.

The legislation prevents the advertising of prescription cannabis and this extends to “all media visible to the public such as stadiums, sports jerseys, billboards, magazines, websites, broadcasts and social media”, according to the TGA.

Broadcasters Nine and Fox Sports have both declined to comment on the issue but confirmed they are working to comply with TGA guidelines regarding any displays of the Alternaleaf logo in their coverage.

Montu, a major supplier of medicinal cannabis products, insists the Dolphins partnership does not violate TGA advertising laws.

“What we are promoting is a healthcare clinic, and while there are rules around how we go about that, we have reviewed them as appropriate,” spokesperson Kelly King said earlier this week.

“The TGA has confirmed in writing to us that partnerships between sports teams and entities involved in the supply of therapeutic goods are not prohibited by the law.

“Alternaleaf is a healthcare clinic with more than 150,000 patients and we are promoting our expert clinicians, and ease of booking process. We do not consider promotion of our clinic itself as problematic.”

Cannabis products are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, although the Dolphins’ sponsorship is not related to medical treatment for its players.

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