Growth of cannabis patients 

Medicinal cannabis was legalised in 2016 in Australia. these could only be obtained through a general Practitioner after receiving a prescription. However, the prices of medicinal cannabis were priced extremely high. This led to almost 21% of the consumers purchasing it from the black market as legal cannabis was very expensive.

The medicinal cannabis market is growing at an extremely fast pace. It is expected to exceed $200M in 2021 from around $100M in 2020. The number of customers has risen from 30,000 active patients at the end of 2020 to 45,000 by the end of Q1, 2021. It is forecasted that there will be approximately 75,000 active patients by the end of 2021. 

In order for doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis, they need to get approval from Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). According to freshLeaf Analytics, SAS-B approvals for 2020 were doubled as compared to 2019 with an estimate of 100,000 granted approval so far.  

How many cannabis products are available so far in Australia?

According to reports, the number of products has been doubled since it was introduced. There are a total of 190 products so far. These products can be customised depending on your need and health condition. They vary depending on the price. 

Why has the price dropped?

The price of medicinal cannabis will differ from person to person depending on the dosage, customisation, duration, consultation fees, shipping, etc. 

The main reason cannabis is expensive in Australia is that most of the cannabis is imported from overseas. About 95% of Australia’s cannabis comes from Canada and Europe. The Australian companies have therefore taken advantage of this and priced their products high. Another reason for cannabis being expensive is the government restrictions and strict rules which need to be followed by the manufacturers and distributors. 

The costs are high for these reasons:

• Importing
• Quality and control
• Testing
• Storing the products safely

However, as compared to 2020, the prices have dropped in 2021.  

Due to the increase in the number of products, the prices have dropped the retail floor price from $0.06/mg to $0.03/mg with an average of $0.16/mg. Only the balanced products have not seen a price change.

How much does it cost to buy cannabis in Australia? 

The wholesale pricing has also changed over the past six months. However, it is observed that price drops do not mean there has been an increase in sales. A reason could be that doctors are concerned about the quality of the products and the testing results. 

When calculating the cost of your product, you must consider the price per mg of cannabinoid in the product. 

For example: if you have a product of 100mg/ml of CBD, the bottle is 30ml and the cost is 120. The cost will be $0.04 per mg. 

$0.04 per mg =          $150               

                           100mg/ml x 30ml

The monthly average spends for legal medicinal cannabis is $384 in Australia which is about $12.60 per day. 

External links:

https://freshleafanalytics.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/FreshLeaf-Analytics-H1-2021.pdf 

https://honahlee.com.au/articles/medical-marijuana-cost-australia/