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Cannabis Flower Continues To Dominate In North America

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Business.

For many decades cannabis essentially came in only two forms – cannabis flower and cannabis hashish. If you were lucky then you perhaps had a friend or family member that could make topicals and/or edibles at home.

These days, if you live in North America where legal cannabis products are bought and sold, then you know firsthand how much variety exists at most licensed outlets.

Cannabis products come in all shapes, sizes, and types in those areas, from cannabis-infused sodas to cannabis-infused cotton candy and just about anything else that the mind can imagine.

Yet, despite the exponential growth in cannabis product options, the old-fashioned form of cannabis flower still reigns supreme in North America’s legal markets according to a recent study. Below is more information about it via a NORML news release:

Santa Monica, CA: Cannabis consumers in the United States and Canada predominantly consume marijuana flower instead other product formulations, according to data published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

Investigators affiliated with the RAND Drug Policy Research Center in California and the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada assessed cannabis consumption patterns in the US and in Canada in a cohort of more than 40,000 subjects.

Consistent with prior surveys, they reported, “Dried flower was the most commonly used product” among consumers – regardless of whether those consumers patronized either the licit or illicit marketplace. However, investigators acknowledged that the popularity of other formulations of cannabis, particularly vape oils and edibles, had increased in recent years – especially in markets where cannabis products are legally available from licensed retailers.

Authors concluded: “The current study provides one of the most comprehensive assessments of cannabis consumption at the population level in Canada and the US to date. The findings highlight the rapidly evolving nature of the cannabis product market, including notable shifts in the types of cannabis products used by consumers. … Although dried flower continues to dominate the market, it has begun declining with a notable shift towards increasing popularity of processed cannabis products.”

Full text of the study, “Trends in the use of cannabis products in Canada and the USA, 2018 – 2020: Findings from the International Cannabis Policy Study,” appears in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

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As Cannabis Insurance Reimbursements Spread Across Europe, Where Does That Leave US And Canada?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

Across Europe, patients are winning battles for their right to free or insurance-reimbursed cannabis care. What does this mean for North America?

According to the Italian press, a Sicilian woman with MS, Loredana Gullota, received her first fully reimbursed cannabis prescription recently. She is the first patient in the region to obtain the same, despite the fact that the decree to mandate coverage was approved by the regional health system a year ago. According to doctors, this means there are now 5,000 patients across the island they can start to prescribe for – their reluctance so far being cost. The average patient could not afford the monthly fees ranging from 300-1,500 euros.

In Germany, right next door, cannabis prescriptions continue to increase, in part because there is a growing understanding about the drug – and thanks to a national training program that has now been launched on the municipal level to target doctors. This is also true of Luxembourg, where the medical training program is clearly also paving the way for a recreational market to start presumably sometime next year. France is running its medical trial. And other countries are now being pulled along – even the beleaguered NHS is considering ways to make good on the prescriptions it has issued so far (even though there are few of these in the UK either).

But with all this growing enthusiasm on the continent, where does this leave the question of reimbursed cannabis in the United States and Canada – the home of cannabis reform, broadly.

Broader Healthcare Provision Is One Avenue To Greater Reform

There is a certain amount of good news here that can fairly easily bounce internationally if the Biden Administration is bold enough to seize it. Namely, the United States specifically has an opportunity to create a state-based agricultural market that can supply and fund its own healthcare funds. In turn, more people being included again in a semi-public option that also includes cannabis care might be just the ticket that the rest of this conversation really needs to get recreational over the line in the coming years.

In Canada, the lack of enthusiasm for including the drug as part of normalized healthcare provision so far has mostly come from doctors and mostly because of the lack of studies and information available. That is likely to also begin changing as more data is available from Europe.

Ultimately, it will be the medical market in Europe that undergirds other kinds of reform – as elsewhere. And so far, with the exception of the Dutch, this is happening, even if achingly slowly, country by country.

Be sure to book your tickets to the next International Cannabis Business Conference – returning to Europe Summer 2021!