Australian Medical Cannabis Sales Quadrupled In The Last Two Years
Medical cannabis sales in Australia have quadrupled during the last two years, with Australians expected to spend an estimated $1 billion on medical cannabis this year. Medical cannabis was first legalized in Australia in 2016.
“The Pennington Institute’s Cannabis in Australia report has revealed spending has skyrocketed from $230 million two years ago to a predicted $1 billion by the end of this year.” 9News stated in its local coverage.
“The spending correlates with usage, which jumped from just 3.9 per cent of survey respondents in 2019 to almost 30 per cent admitting they use prescription marijuana.” the outlet also reported.
Australia’s Senate voted on an adult-use cannabis legalization measure this week. According to the Australian Greens Party, which introduced the measure, the measure was “blocked by the Labor and Coalition parties in a 13 to 24 vote against progress.”
“We took a big step today from treating cannabis as part of the failing ‘war on drugs’ and instead putting forward a model that is safer, reduces harms and delivers for the millions of Australians who just want us to legalize it!” Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson David Shoebridge said in a media release.
“The support for this bill across the community is enormous and it’s why we know cannabis legalisation in this country is inevitable.” Shoebridge also stated. “The Labor and Coalition parties joined together to try and hold Australia back in the 1950’s by blocking this desperately needed reform.”
Currently, cannabis is legal for adult use at a national level in Uruguay, Canada, Malta, Luxembourg, Germany, and South Africa. Cannabis is also legal for recreational use in two dozen states in the U.S., and regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot trials are operating in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
“Government data shows 8.8 million of adult Australians have consumed cannabis. The Labor and Liberal parties are happy to call all of these people criminals. That’s a bloody disgrace.” Senator Shoebbridge said. “My office keeps hearing from people using cannabis to deal with anxiety or pain, or just to relax. We think that adults should have the right to do just that.”
“If choosing cannabis instead of products from pharmaceutical corporations is working for you, as it does for many Australians, then you should have that choice.” Shoebridge also said. “If you’d rather have a brownie than a beer, or a gummy than a cigarette, of course you should be allowed to do that.”
