Medical and Recreational Users NumbersThis is my own view on Medical and Recreational Users
One aspect of counting Cannabis users is to remember “switching” that will occur from medical to recreational once it is legal in 2018 to just be a “recreational users” versus a “medical users.
At present the ONLY legal way in Canada to consume Cannibis is to get a medical prescription from 2 sources.
1. A Legit script for a legit medical problem from a doctor that REALLY examines and prescribes for a bona fide reason (usually through a clinic such as Cannabinoid Clinic or Bodystream or CannWay).
2. A legit scrip for a “contrived medical problem” from “certain” doctors who are sympathetic to these “long time pot users” who would be better off buying from a LP rather than illegal dispensaries such as Cannabis Culture.
The benefit for this recreational user to masquerade as a medical user is twofold :
a) The dosage is regulated and in forms not easily obtained on the black market such as oils etc and
b) PAYMENT by third party such as Veterans Affairs (Hello Bob the Builder).
So at the present time if there are 1000 so called “medical users” we do not accurately know how many will stop being medical users and turn into recreational users next year in 2018 (or 2019) when legalization WILL certainly happen.
Don’t forget too the stigma of being a “medical users” a d having tot report to a doctor to get a renewal and be grilled on usage (going overboard or exceeding to just get “high”).
For example effective May 2017 the VA has decreased the coverage of medical use from 10 grams per day to 3 grams per day ($ 8/g cap) so that tells me when recreational is legal there may be an OVERLAP of medical usages along with non medical use for the SAME person and that would skew the numbers of who is medical and who is recreational.
My personal opinion is that the current medical use numbers are inflated and contain numbers combined with both “real medical condition users” and “wannabe medical recreational” users and those who are mixed in with both some medical and some rec.
I personally know many baby boomers between 55-70 who used to smoke Cannabis in the 1960’s as teenagers and now refuse to go underground to buy from unknown people. They go to Cannabis Culture in downtown Toronto but quality and dosage uncertain.
Instead they say to their wife or husband “ I have insomnia” “ I have stress”
“I had ED and can’t get it up” “ I have muscle tension” “I need to relax”.
“I have arthritis pain” “ I have no appetite “ “I am always in pain”
Guess what, the doctor says Cannabinoid research by Dr. Mechoulam has discovered the Endocannabinoid system that reveals Cannabis to be much safer than Alcohol and Anti-Depressants and safer that Opioids such as Oxycontin and Fentanyl so HERE IS A SCRPIT FOR CANNABIS.
You are a medical cannabis user BUT next year he may just skip being labeled that and order Cannabis directly from an LP or go to Shoppers Drug Mart or to the LCBO or to some new provincial dispensary and just PAY the MONEY and say nothing to anyone about how much you use and why !!!
So in the newt year after legalization we will have many “new rec users” that were actually previous “medical users.
It is unquantifiable what the actual numbers will be BUT there will be an EXPLOSION of Cannabis users overall and hopefully WEED and APH will dominate the market.
Keep buying stock !
This is a once in a generation opportunity after 100 years of Prohibition being repealed by the Canadian Parliament – The first G7 nation to do so.