company news about CBD is an important role in the medical marijuana market in Australia! The Ministry of health is considering further liberalization!

Cannabis plants contain more than 130 kinds of cannabinoids (including cbdv, CBN, etc.), most of which have high medical value, including the treatment of cancer, epilepsy, anti anxiety, etc.

THC and CBD are two of the most common cannabinoids. The former is the hallucinogenic and addictive component of cannabis plants, while the latter is not.

In 2016, Australia amended the narcotic drugs act 1967 to allow domestic production of medical marijuana.

In Australia, there are three types of licenses related to the supply of medicinal cannabis products: a medical cannabis cultivation or production license, a medical cannabis research license, and a medical cannabis drug and product manufacturing license.

As of May 2019, the Ministry of health has approved 64 permits to grow, produce and manufacture cannabis.

Recently, freshleaf analytics, the data Research Institute of the pharmaceutical marijuana industry in Australia, released a data on the pharmaceutical marijuana market in Australia in the first quarter of 2020.

According to the data, there are more than 10000 medical marijuana patients and more than 100 medical marijuana products available in Australia.

Freshleaf predicts that by the end of this year, the medical marijuana market in Australia will have product sales of nearly $150 million and product consumption rate (annualized) of nearly 1000 kg of cannabinoid.

Increase in medical marijuana patients

According to freshleaf, from January to December 2019, the number of medical marijuana patients in Australia continued to grow, from 1600 in January to more than 10000 at the end of December, with an average monthly growth of 19%. Overall, the number of active medical marijuana patients in the Australian market increased by 658% in 2019.

Freshleaf predicts that by December 2020, medical marijuana patients in Australia will triple year-on-year to 25000-30000 active patients. With the growth of medical marijuana patients, the revenue and product sales of medical marijuana market will increase significantly.

Freshleaf predicts that by the end of this year, the medical marijuana market in Australia will have product sales of nearly $150 million and product consumption rate (annualized) of nearly 1000 kg of cannabinoid.

Increase in medical marijuana products

According to freshleaf, Australian doctors can now prescribe 100 kinds of medical marijuana products; since 2017, medical marijuana products have been growing rapidly.

The delivery mode of medical marijuana products is also growing. Now there are 8 different ways of delivery, of which "cream" and "lozenge" are new ways.

Among them, "oil" accounts for 57% of the total. Secondly, "capsule" accounted for 16%; "flower" accounted for 14%; "spray" accounted for 7%; "granular flower" accounted for 3%; "crystal" accounted for 1%; "lozenge" accounted for 1%; "cream" accounted for 1%.

Consider further opening up CBD drugs

CBD (cannabinoids) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) are two main cannabinoids in cannabis plants, and also two important components in medical cannabis products.

According to the ratio of the two ingredients, freshleaf divides the medical marijuana products in Australia into five categories: Schedule 4 CBD products, Schedule 8 CBD based products, CBD and thc balanced products, pure thc products and thc based products.

"Schedule 4 CBD products": more than 98% of the cannabinoids in the products are cannabinoids (CBD), usually made of cannabinoids extracted from cannabis plants, with little or no THC content. Doctors usually prescribe any thc product when they are concerned about its possible adverse effects on patients.

"Schedule 8 CBD based products": the CBD content of such products is 66% - 98%, which is usually the extract of "whole cannabis plant", and its cannabinoid ratio depends on the variety of cannabis plant used.

"CBD and thc balanced products": the CBD / thc ratio of such products is between 1:2 and 2:1). There are 33% to 66% CBD (conversely, the range of THC is similar). Doctors usually prescribe these drugs if they want to balance the effects of the two ingredients.

"Thc based products": the THC content of these products is 66-98% of cannabinoid.

"Pure thc products": these products have more than 98% THC, and they are usually made of THC extracted from plants.

In the medical marijuana market in Australia, 85% of the products contain a certain amount of CBD, and nearly half of the products contain more CBD than THC. Among the above five product formulations, "Schedule 4 CBD product" is the most commonly used medical marijuana drug prescribed by doctors.

Because if thc is detected in the driver's body, he will face charges of illegal driving. If "Schedule 4 CBD product" is used, thc will not be detected, so there is no need to worry about this risk; in addition, if some patients or their doctors want to avoid the side effects of THC (which may include drowsiness, dry eyes or dry mouth, paranoia, etc.), they will less or no medicine containing THC.

In January 2020, the Australian Ministry of Health announced that it was reviewing the safety literature on low-dose CBD to consider further opening CBD, i.e. to be sold at the drugstore counter (listed in Schedule 3) or not to be sold at the drugstore now (listed in Schedule 2).

The Australian Department of health considers 15-100 mg of CBD per day to be low dose. Currently, in Australia, CBD products with "other cannabinoids less than 2%" for human treatment are "Schedule 4" and need to be prescribed by doctors. Despite this change, companies that manufacture CBD drugs are required to register their low dose "schedule 3 CBD products" with the Australian Therapeutic Products Registry (ARTG).

But CBD products (low doses) will be sold more smoothly than they can only be obtained through doctors' prescriptions, and the company has begun to publicize its products to the public as "schedule 3 drugs".

Expenses of medical marijuana patients

According to freshleaf, there were 63 medical marijuana products available in Australia in the third quarter of 2019. By the first quarter of 2020, 30 of the 63 products had reduced their prices, with an average reduction of 28.3% (pharmacy price). The maximum reduction of a single product is more than 58%. The price cut is good news for medical marijuana patients.

But the cost of planning medical marijuana patients should also consider the factor of "dosage". Freshleaf's data showed a strong upward trend in the doses used by patients.

In the third quarter of 2019, patients consumed an average of 54 mg of cannabinoid per day. In the first quarter of 2020, that number jumped to 88 milligrams a day, an increase of 63%.

There are three possible reasons for the increase of "dosage" of cannabinoid in patients:

1. Due to the insufficient use of patients in the past, with the decrease of price, they increased the dosage to achieve better treatment effect.

2. Doctors are more and more familiar with prescribing marijuana drugs and are willing to increase the dosage for patients.

3. Continuous use of the product may also be tolerated by patients, and higher doses are needed to maintain the same therapeutic effect.

According to freshleaf, from the third quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020, medical marijuana patients' monthly expenditure on cannabis drugs increased by 21.5%, from $372 to $436.

As mentioned above, freshleaf forecasts that by the end of this year, the medical marijuana market in Australia will have product sales of close to $150 million and product consumption rate (annualized) will be close to 1000 kg of cannabinoid.

Fresh leaf believes that medical scientific research will play an important role in 2020, because the localization of low-dose CBD products still requires a lot of research activities to prove the appropriate dose and safety.