Latest Developments in the Medical Marijuana sector in Canada

Marijuana, otherwise known as cannabis, is a well-known stimulant all over the world. It has been legalized in some countries but in most countries, it is illegal to grow it or even to smoke it. Though illegal, marijuana has found its use in the medical field.

Medical marijuana is used in the medical field in order to treat diseases or relieve symptoms. It is describes to provide medical therapy in patients. It can dampen the effects of vomiting and improve the situation of a sick person who feels lack of appetite. This mostly happens to patients who have undergone chemotherapy, and has other effects for people with AIDS. It is can also be used for other medical but the studies are inconclusive.

Though the current uses of medical marijuana are a bit controversial, cannabis was a form of medicine in the olden days across many cultures all over the world. Currently, the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Medical Association, among many other organizations have discouraged people and patients against the use of Marijuana as a form of medicine.

Even with these statements, this has not stopped the medical fraternity in Canada and many other countries to use the medicine for recreational purposes. In Canada, there are laws that have been put in place to allow the use of marijuana as a medical drug and a procedure for giving it out has been provided.

There have been recent developments in the Marijuana medical movement in Canada that has brought life to the benefits of medical marijuana. Over certain duration of time, the health sector in Canada has had a clumsy medical marijuana program. This caused the government to roll out a plan to try and stop around 40000 medical marijuana patients who have been registered and legally authorized to stop growing medical marijuana at their homes and destroy their stash. In turn, they should support a group of government sanctioned growing operations that have been newly established. This motion was highly opposed by a BC lawyer, John Conroy, who argued that the new government plan would drastically limit the access of the medicine to the patients which is unconstitutional. This led to the court barring the government from starting their new plan.

After this ruling, the Health sector in Canada made a key change. This was the allowance of any new patients who wanted to start taking medical marijuana to help with the effects of the disease could directly go to a doctor for a prescription. This process is easy rather than the earlier bureaucratic process where a new patient had to earn the approval of Health Canada.

Another key change is the presence of marijuana vending machine. A dispensary in Vancouver installed the first vending machine in Canada to allow easy access for medical marijuana. B.C. Pain Society is known for its high quality medical cannabis to its patients. The marijuana is perfectly sealed with tamper-proof sealed bags and stored in the vending machine for sale to patients. It goes for $50 for every half ounce.

According to the dispensary’s doctor, the product stays fresh and it is easy to access it. It is a new method that retains the high quality of the medicine unlike in the other dispensaries where the medical staff has to handle the stash which is stored in jars. When stored in jars, it can cause the cannabis to dry out due to the frequent opening and shutting of the jar. The doctor, Mr. Varabioff, explains “This drug is only accessible to the members. Anyone can come into our dispensary but no one is able to access the 36” gate to the vending machine without an ID card”. The dispensary is contemplating on going a step further and installing a swipe card system for payment purposes.

Not only is the medical marijuana accessible in the vending machine, there is also a gumball machine that is able to dispense a gram gumball of cannabis for either $4 or $6. Marijuana-infused coffee is net in their plans.

Another development is the intention of four more companies that grow and sell weed goind public and being listed. These companies, Mettrum Limited, OrganiGram Inc., Bedrocan Canada Inc. and PharmaCan Capital, which is a holding company for other three licensed producers, want to join Tweed Marijuana Inc., an already and only listed company, in TSX Venture Exchange. The four producers of medical marijuana are working on their respective transactions that will enable them to go public over the next couple of weeks. According to sources and filings in the industry, this will give the investors a fresh and new entry to the growing industry.

Once the deals have been done and legalized, investors will be able to buy shares, directly or indirectly, from the seven companies, including those three that are associated with PharmaCan. This is about half of the marijuana producers that have been legalized received their licenses to operate by Health Canada.

As medical marijuana is illegal in the US at the federal level, this is increasing popularity to Canada for both Canadian and the foreign investors to come invest in this sector. Producers have reported robust demand from the patients. Fund managers as well as venture capital firms are also interested in investing. In the latest wave of consolidations, Tweed has acquired a greenhouse facility based in Ontario while PharmaCan has purchased a licensed producer, In The Zone Produce Ltd.

Bedrocab Canada seems to be the first company to go public and get listed as it has received huge conditional approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. It is a partner to Dutch medical marijuana named Bedrocan BV. It is set to build a 52,000 square feet marijuana growing facility at Ontario. Its expected value is $57 million.

Mettrum, which is based in Toronto is valued at $80 million when last listed. With plenty of producers based in British Columbia and Ontario, OrganiGram has gone a different way and is situated in New Brunswick. It looks to set itself as a focus point in Eastern Canada. It is estimated to be worth C$35 million. PharmaCan is estimated to be worth about $50 million.

With all these development in the medical marijuana field, the future is set to be brighter for all those patients who use medical marijuana