What this letter is for
Dexamfetamine, lisdexamfetamine and methylphenidate are Schedule 8 medicines under the Poisons Standard, and every state and territory controls who may prescribe them, to whom, and for how long. Beyond a short initial period, prescribing them for ADHD needs an authority from the patient's jurisdiction, applied for by the prescriber, usually on the regulator's form with a supporting letter, sometimes by letter alone.
The reader is an officer in the health department's medicines and poisons regulation unit. They are checking that the application meets the requirements, that the identifiers match the prescription monitoring system, that the diagnosis is supported, that the dose is within limits, that substance-use history has been considered, and that there is one prescriber. They are not evaluating your clinical judgement; they are confirming that the paperwork gives them what the law requires before they can approve.
The same letter, or a version of it, is also what the GP and the pharmacist work from, so it doubles as the document that makes the prescribing arrangement clear to everyone touching the script.
Who regulates it
Each jurisdiction runs its own scheme through its health department: in New South Wales the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Unit, in Victoria Medicines and Poisons Regulation, in Queensland the medicines and poisons regulation function of Queensland Health alongside QScript, in Western Australia the Medicines and Poisons Regulation Branch under its stimulant prescribing code, in South Australia the Drugs of Dependence Unit, in Tasmania the Pharmaceutical Services Branch, in the Australian Capital Territory the Health Protection Service, and in the Northern Territory Medicines and Poisons Control.
They differ on the words (permit, authority, approval), the forms, the maximum doses, the durations, the age rules, the pathway for drug-dependent patients, and above all on who may prescribe: specialist only, GP continuation under specialist authority, GP co-prescribing under a shared-care arrangement, or GP prescribing for defined groups. Several of these rules changed during 2024 and 2025. The regulator's current page is the authority on all of them, and this guide deliberately does not restate thresholds that may be out of date by the time you read it.
What the application must contain
- The patient, exactly. Full legal name, date of birth, address and Medicare number, matching the prescription monitoring record. A transposed digit is the most common reason for a request for more information.
- The prescriber, exactly. Name, qualifications, specialty, AHPRA registration number, prescriber number, practice address and contact.
- The diagnosis, shown. ADHD by presentation, the criteria met, and the basis: clinical interview, evidence of onset in childhood (school reports, informant history), rating scales, and collateral. A diagnosis asserted in one line without its basis is the second most common reason for a request for more information.
- Comorbidities and their relevance. Particularly substance use, bipolar disorder, psychosis, cardiac history, and anything that bears on the safety of a stimulant.
- The medicine, completely. Drug, formulation, strength, dose and schedule, maximum daily dose sought, and the period of authority requested.
- Stimulant history. Previous stimulants, doses, duration, response and adverse effects. Any other Schedule 8 medicines currently prescribed, by whom.
- Substance-use history and dependence status. Stated plainly, with current status, and whether the patient meets the jurisdiction's definition of a drug-dependent person, which changes the pathway.
- The prescription monitoring check. That you checked the real time prescription monitoring system, when, and what it showed.
- Baseline safety review. The physical checks the regulator expects to have been done before a stimulant is started, and their results.
- The prescribing arrangement. That you are the sole prescriber, or the named GP who will continue or co-prescribe under the authority and the basis for that under the state's rules, with the review schedule.
- Monitoring and review. How often you will review, what you will monitor, and how doses may change within the authority.
- Signature and date.
Two authorities, not one
The state permit is the legal permission to prescribe a Schedule 8 medicine to this patient. The PBS authority is the Commonwealth's permission for the prescription to be subsidised, with criteria of its own in the PBS listing for each medicine and each age group. Practices lose weeks by confusing them: a PBS authority number on a script does not satisfy the state's requirement, and a state permit does not make the script PBS-subsidised. The PBS Authority - Application / Renewal preset handles the second document.
Where applications fall short
- An identifier does not match the monitoring system.
- The diagnosis is stated but not shown: no basis, no childhood onset evidence.
- The dose is given without a maximum daily dose or a period sought.
- Substance-use history is omitted, and visible in the monitoring record.
- More than one prescriber appears, or the GP arrangement is implied without naming the GP or the basis.
- The application uses the pathway for a non-dependent patient when the history says otherwise.
- The authority has lapsed before the renewal is lodged.
- It is written to a colleague rather than to a regulator: narrative first, identifiers scattered, the medicine on page two.
A skeleton that works
Renewals, GP co-prescribing and shared care
An authority expires. Lodge the renewal before it does, with the response to treatment, any dose changes, the current monitoring check and any change in circumstances since the original application. Where the state allows a GP to continue or co-prescribe, the arrangement belongs in writing, with the GP named, the basis stated in the regulator's terms, and the review cadence fixed; the Treatment - ADHD Shared Care / GP Co-prescribing preset carries that, and the review-letter guide in this library covers the arrangement itself.
How PsychDispatch drafts this
The Treatment - S8 Stimulant Permit / Authority Support preset drafts the application in the structure above, and Patient Intelligence supplies what a regulator asks for and a memory rarely holds exactly: the stimulant history with doses, dates and responses, the comorbidities, the substance-use history as recorded over time, and the details of previous authorities, so a renewal is drafted from the record rather than reconstructed. Identifiers and doses are verified against the source before you sign, and the letter goes out on your letterhead.