Be warned Australia !
MJ Biz report
Canadian spending on medical cannabis fell to a five-year low in the first half of 2021, according to new data from Statistics Canada, as recreational marijuana reached record sales and more patients arranged to grow their own plants.
Patients in Canada spent 242 million Canadian dollars ($197 million) on medical cannabis in the first half of this year, down from CA$294 million in the second half of 2020 and 23% lower than the record CA$316 million spent in the final six months of 2017, the new figures show.
This year’s first-half spending is the lowest for a six-month period since 2016, when expenditures totaled CA$177 million in the last two quarters.
In February, there were 265,841 active cannabis patient registrations with federal cannabis license holders, also a multiyear low, before rising slightly to 292,399 in March, according to the Health Canada data.
In Canada, most medical cannabis is sold directly to patients via a licensed producer. There are no federally legal medical cannabis storefronts.
However, more Canadians than ever are choosing to grow their own medical marijuana.
Those registered with Health Canada to produce cannabis for their own medical purposes – or who designate someone to produce it for them – have almost doubled since 2018.
