In his first post for Cannabiz, editor-at-large Rhys Cohen analyses the findings of the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey to find out more about the 97% of Australians who still source their medical cannabis from the black market.
As of July 2020, there are now more than 50,000 Australians who have at some time been approved to be prescribed a medical cannabis product. And the number of active, current prescribed cannabis patients is around 20,000.
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$745 every six weeks. I’m not well served at all, thank you very much! 😑. I have two chronic health conditions and survive financially on DSP. How is that well served? Where is the danger in a plant that is now helping these companies list on the ASX and export product? This is about money only.
(Edited under Cannabiz’s comment moderation policy).
Hi Rhys. Thank you, you’re so right. It’s the underprivileged, disadvantaged people that suffer the most. It fully makes me wonder what the demographic of the 20,000 legal prescriptions is like? Imho, when cannabis therapeutics are on the PBS, and companies can set up cannabis clinics with trained doctors and pharmacists, they will soon catch that 170,000 other Australians who use non-prescribed cannabis exclusively for medical purposes.
Great insight as usual Rhys. These are important questions and finding answers based on evidence will be crucial to serving patients better.