A REPORT released yesterday on the Australian cannabis market has shown a significant increase in the medicinal cannabis market over the past two years, with Australians expected to spend a billion dollars on prescribed medicinal cannabis in 2024.
This compares with an estimated $448 million in 2023 and $235 million in 2022.
The Cannabis in Australia report is released annually by the Penington Institute, a research organisation that promotes harm reduction approaches to drug use.
The data showed the total number of units sold in the first half of 2024 reached 2.87 million, a considerable increase on the 1.68 million units that were sold in the second half of 2023.
The vast majority of medicinal cannabis was prescribed under the Authorised Prescriber Scheme, which allows doctors to be approved to prescribe a particular category of medicinal cannabis products without needing to seek individual approvals for each patient they treat.
Only two medicinal cannabis products are currently listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).
In 2022-23, at least 700,000 Australians who were surveyed said they had used cannabis for medicinal purposes in the previous 12 months, of whom 200,000 obtained their cannabis via prescription.
Australians largely accessed imported cannabis, mainly from Canada, rather than locally produced products.
At this stage, there is still very little evidence that it is effective for anxiety or chronic pain, which are among the most common conditions it is prescribed for.
Penington Institute CEO Jack Ryan said that while there are "legitimate concerns" about the conduct and sales methods of a small number of medicinal cannabis companies, "most operators in the space conducted themselves ethically and professionally". KB
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