Australians are tipped to spend A$1 billion on prescribed medicinal cannabis in 2024 according to the latest findings from the Penington Institute.
Figures sourced from honahlee’s Catalyst medicines database show the medical market to be booming, with Australians spending approximately $402m on the medicine in the first six months of 2024.
That is only marginally less than the estimated $448m patients spent during the whole of 2023, and up significantly on the 2022 figure of $235m. The report predicts the final figure for 2024 will top $1bn.
Meanwhile, data provided by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) following a Freedom of Information request show more than 2.87 million products were sold from January to June 2024, up considerably on the 1.68 million sold in the second half of 2023.
However, Penington Institute CEO John Ryan warned the robust state of the market should not obscure the challenges facing the industry nor mask the “incoherence” of Australia’s cannabis policies generally.
Writing in the harm-reduction organisation’s Cannabis in Australia 2024 report, Ryan said: “In terms of growth, the industry is flourishing, with hundreds of thousands of patients benefiting from access to safe, quality-controlled products that are dispensed according to a doctor’s directions.
“Yet many of the headlines related to medicinal cannabis this year have been negative, with regulators and journalists investigating producers that treat regulations as optional and medical clinics that act more like retailers, leaving vulnerable people at risk.
“Some medicinal cannabis clinics are clearly prioritising high-volume access over high-quality medical care. Regulators must actively enforce laws and regulations against companies and individuals who flout them.”
As well as calling out such behaviour, Ryan said politicians should consider how the current legal framework is contributing to the sector’s problems.
“Parliamentarians and other policymakers must also understand the broader context: it is short-sighted to make medicinal cannabis the sole access point for a high-demand, relatively low-harm product,” he said.
“The effect is that people who can navigate and afford prescription medicinal cannabis are able to avoid being criminalised for their cannabis use, while those at highest risk of arrest – Indigenous, rural, and lower-income people – lack such protection.”
The way out of this “incoherence” is the establishment of a regulated adult-use model operating alongside the current medical framework, Ryan said.
“Australia has created a policy muddle, but we know how to get out; we just need the will to do so,” he added.
Penington is currently working on detailed modelling for how a regulated adult-use market might work in Victoria and is about to launch a public campaign on the issue.
