Medical cannabis has been legal for medical use since 2016, and although its growth as an industry has been slow and steady, its currently valued at $17.7 million annually, has the potential to reach $1.2 billion by 2024 and then $3 billion by 2028. There are seven people every day that are added to the medical cannabis users list. That is not a lot, but at least it’s growing and leading the way for other patients and doctors who are getting more informed about cannabis as a medicine and its benefits treating many disorders and side-effects.
Accessing the medicine has made some progress lately, as the new online application system has just been put in place. The numbers are growing nicely with almost 2000 patients around Australia. Although the numbers can vary as some patients get multiple TGA applications approved, its still a good rate of growth and it is expected to explode to even more significant figures in the coming years.
This is very exciting for all the medical cannabis community. New reports made by Prohibition Partners shows that Australian medical cannabis market that is currently valued $17 million could explode to $1.2 Billion by 2024. If Australia would go entirely legal, meaning including also recreational part the market would be worth $8.8 Billion then years from now.
Getting more professionals involved is the key to getting the medicine to the people, education is critical here. As there are still so many wrong ideas around cannabis and how it affects us. Some people still believe that cannabis only makes you high and is a bad drug. Although it’s proven that no one ever died from consuming medical cannabis and its side effects are not as severe as opioids or even alcohol.
Canada just made all cannabis legal for Adult Use, being only the second country in the world to do that. This is a very positive move as it gives Australia somewhere to look when learning about cannabis and its effects on the economy and people. Hopefully, there will be things to learn from Canadians and how they do it. Estimations are in the 1st year of legalising cannabis in Australia the government would make $200m in taxes off the sale of cannabis.
Cannabis use is high in Australia, although it’s illegal for recreational use. The current report shows that almost half a million people aged 14 and older have used cannabis illegally in the last year. So the laws and legal system around cannabis are not working and it’s time for a change of strategy and perspective.
Legislation of medical cannabis has also opened up doors for commercial real estate business, as more cannabis growers need land and facilities for growing and manufacturing. In countries where marijuana has been legalised for both medical or recreation use, it has had a positive effect on growth in the commercial real estate sector. As it’s still early days for Australia, the actual numbers are just an estimation, but it looks positive. As the cannabis industry is growing the real estate prices will increase and the number of properties that will be used for cannabis businesses will expand soaking up supply and creating demand for land.
This is all positive for us Australians and it will be exciting to see what the real number will be over the coming years
