Canada has been dominating the medical cannabis sector in a country known for kangaroos and scary bugs.
Canadian medical cannabis imports into Australia rose by 74 per cent year-over-year in 2024, according to data released by the Australian government on Sept. 30.
Canadian companies exported over 62,000 kilograms of cannabis to the land down under last year in comparison to just under 36,000 in 2023. This quantity in 2024 accounted for approximately 80 per cent of the total received by Australia, the nation’s Office of Drug Control specified.
Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSE: ACB) (NASDAQ: ACB) (FRA: 21P), Village Farms International Inc (NASDAQ: VFF) (FRA: 02V), Canopy Growth Corp (TSE: WEED) (NASDAQ: CGC) (FRA: 11L), Tilray Brands Inc (TSE: TLRY) (NASDAQ: TLRY) (FRA: 2HQ) and Organigram Global Inc (TSE: OGI) (NASDAQ: OGI) (FRA: 0OG) have been leading the charge with these shipments.
Aurora ships EU-GMP-certified flower and extracts, Village Farms exports indoor-grown BC bud and Canopy Growth sends medical concentrates. Furthermore, Tilray’s medical subsidiary exports high-THC cultivars and Organigram focuses on shipping sustainably grown strains.
Australian patients are permitted to access medical cannabis for conditions such as chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chemotherapy-linked nausea. Approximately 1 million prescriptions were issued to citizens throughout last year. It has been legal nationwide since 2016.
The rapid rise in medical cannabis use has become cause for concern among key health organizations in the country. Only 19,000 prescriptions were handed out in 2019.
This week, the New South Wales branches of The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Australian Medical Association, Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia wrote to the state’s health minister advocating for greater selectivity in the prescription process.
The University of Sydney also published an article this week voicing concerns about the side effects of medical cannabis and its mental health implications. It references a Canadian study about links between marijuana usage and schizophrenia from February.
“Prescribing data reveals eight practitioners wrote more than 10,000 medicinal cannabis scripts in a six-month period,” the university said, calling for enhanced oversight as well.
Read more: Canadian cannabis industry added C$16B to nation’s GDP last year
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