Diagnosing Why Canada's Medical Market Should Thrive

Despite some recent angst about whether there will be a sufficient supply of cannabis to meet the needs of registered medical patients as Canada rolls out its nationwide adult-use program, there is reason for keeping confident about the future of its medical cannabis market.

As detailed in New Frontier Data’s latest report, The Canada Cannabis Report: 2018 Industry Outlook there remains an immense amount of growth still to come in the Canadian medical market, especially as insurance programs continue to adopt cannabis in company benefits programs.

Even after the rollout of Canada’s pending nationwide adult-use market, “there will remain a strong need for cannabis clinics for years to come,” said Paul Methot, president of Knalysis Technologies. “Some licensed producers will focus on the rec market, but those with the best medicine will keep their loyal patients coming, and the margins on medical cannabis is predicted to remain higher than [adult-use] strains.”

Methot cites how medical patient participation in Canada grew 539 percent between December 2015 and December 2017 (from 53,649 patients to 269,502), fueling the need for the specific solutions.

Knalysis Technologies is part of the Canada House Wellness Group, a publicly traded Canadian company with one of the largest networks of cannabis clinics in Canada. Knalysis pioneered software to seamlessly link physicians, providers, and patients. Its client base currently represents 6 percent of Canada’s registered patients nationwide.

Some particular points made from Knalysis’ data include:

• Twenty percent of males (versus 8 percent of women) consume more than 5 grams of cannabis daily.

• Male veterans consume at significantly higher rates than any other group – 27 percent consume more than 5 grams per day.

• The large veterans population in Knalysis’ database makes PTSD the most commonly cited condition for which cannabis is prescribed: 20 percent of men and 8 percent of women report using cannabis for PTSD, compared to 5 percent of men and 6 percent of women who use it for chronic pain.

• Women were a little more likely to use cannabis for anxiety, depression and fibromyalgia, whereas men were more likely to consume cannabis for disc disease and back pain.

• Among civilian populations, chronic pain is often the leading condition for which cannabis is used.

Canada throughout the past year has been establishing itself as the global leader in international cannabis. As detailed in the new report,Canada has seen enormous investment gains over the past two years, with five of its top licensed producers seeing gains between 400 percent and 1,050 percent in stock prices since April 2016. Subsequently, investment activities there have remained active in advance of the adult-use program, particularly toward the end of 2017.

“This report shows the immense amount of growth still to come in the Canadian medical market,” Methot concluded. “As insurance programs continue to adopt cannabis in company benefits programs, there will remain a strong need for cannabis clinics for years to come.”