The report reveals that Australian politicians appear to have convinced themselves that they’ve created a great legislative framework for the cannabis / hemp sector(s). But in essence they’ve spent so much time tying others up in knots, they haven’t yet realized, they’ve tied themselves up in the bedsheets and won’t be getting out for a while. Leaving the Chinese with the leading hand in Asia.
Here’s a bit more of that Reuters report
“There will be more cannabis used in Australia and overseas over the next 10, 20 and 50 years but it is not clear that any of the local market can capture that, let alone make money from it,” said Scott Phillips, director of research at investment company Motley Fool. “Look at the gold rush: sure, some made money, but the biggest winners were the sellers of the shovels.”
Australia’s medicinal cannabis sector, with 12 listed companies, produces a range of products that include chronic pain management and acne creams with extracts of marijuana to aid acne. The businesses acknowledge some barriers to growth but say they are primed to profit from a maturing market.
Australia already produces 50 percent of the world’s legal poppies, which are processed into pharmaceutical opiates such as morphine and codeine. Last year, it expanded its legal drug market by legalizing medicinal marijuana use, a move that spurred a wave of IPOs and backdoor listings on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
Contradicting the hype, however, only several hundred patients in Australia have so far been prescribed medical cannabis, data from the country’s Ministry for Health show, as local doctors remain wary of the benefits of marijuana.
