MJ Biz Report Says That Australia’s Medical Cannabis Approvals May Exceed Canada’s Soon

It isn’t hard to work out why this might be the case in Australia but the “industry”, the TGA and the current federal and state govts just don’t want to tackle the issue of regulated adult use cannabis in this country so “Medical Cannabis” , as we all know in Australia , is a great way for older people to buy over-priced recreational weed without resorting to the black market. Meanwhile everybody else just buys black market product and especially the young who essentially get an uber service in all the major cities.

This is what happened initially in Canada until people saw sense and just ensured as fair a legal market as you can after 100 years of prohibition.

This is what MJ Biz say

Australia’s medical cannabis industry continues to experience brisk growth in patients and sales, and experts say the market could even surpass Canada’s medical sector this year.
Australian patients generally access medical cannabis via two government-regulated programs: the so-called Special Access Scheme Category B (SAS-B) system or from an Authorized Prescriber, typically a physician.
According to Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) data, the number of SAS-B patient approvals for medical cannabis increased sharply every year from January 2018 to January 2022.
Patient approvals rose from 25,160 in 2019 to 57,710 in 2020 and almost 122,000 in 2021.
However, that number dropped to 117,000 in 2022.
Industry sources say SAS-B approvals declined last year partly because of reforms implemented in late 2021, which effectively pushed some patients to pick an alternative pathway for securing medical cannabis – through an Authorized Prescriber (AP).
“The TGA approval data shows that the Australian market is continuing to grow rapidly, with an increasing number of patients accessing medicinal cannabis via an Authorized Prescriber, rather than via the SAS-B pathway,” Rhys Cohen, global partnerships and engagement adviser at the Victoria, Australia-based Penington Institute, a drug policy organization, told MJBizDaily International Editor Matt Lamers.
“This is probably due to a combination of the November 2021 reforms, which made it easier to become an AP, and ongoing growth in the number and size of medicinal cannabis clinics, which prefer to use the AP pathway.”
Check out Matt’s story to learn more about Australia’s growing medical cannabis program.

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