Few medicinal cannabis users buying legally
Only 6 per cent of people who use cannabis medicinally are getting it legally, according to a Drug Foundation report.
This leaves about 250, 000 people who source medicinal cannabis on the black market.
This number, which is based off a self-reported Ministry of Health survey, includes both people who use dry herb cannabis for medicinal purposes and people who use medicinal cannabis, such as CBD and THC oil, that is sourced on the black market.
Drug Foundation policy director Kali Mercier said one of the reasons people were turning to the black market was because legal medicinal cannabis was more expensive.
‘‘It can cost several hundred dollars a month – or significantly more, depending on your condition – to get hold of legal medicinal cannabis. A lot of people who really need it are on benefits and are simply not able to afford that,’’ she said.
People were also turning to the black market because many medicinal cannabis products were not yet legal, Mercier said.
On February 4, two more products were approved by the Ministry of Health, bringing the total number of legal products to 10.
People supplying medicinal cannabis illegally – sometimes known as ‘green fairies’ – could provide more products for significantly less, green fairy Shane Mark said.
‘‘Only the rich can afford [legal medicinal cannabis]. The products are too dear at the doctor’s. Way too dear. You’re paying a third or half the price from us. That’s a big reason people are going to the black market.’’
There is no Government funding for medicinal cannabis products.
Mark said most of his medicinal cannabis patients were looking for a normal quality of life.
‘‘I get some people coming in with their families, and they look like death. A month later they’re ... feeling good, able to peel a grapefruit again, just little things. They’re not in constant pain.’’
Now that New Zealand medicinal products were on the market, the cost had dropped in some places, Hamilton pharmacist James Yu said.
But the price of a medicinal cannabis product could vary, depending on the pharmacy. That was because each pharmacy could determine their own profit margins, he said.
Doctors were running into this problem as well.
Dr Graham Gulbransen, who runs the cannabis care clinic in Auckland’s Sandringham, said he had seen patients refuse to take their prescription to the chemist because it was too costly.
‘‘Some people get anxious – ‘But what if it works? Then I’m stuck with paying all this money each month’.
‘‘They don’t even want to find out if it could work or not because they’re scared that they may be committing themselves to disappointment if they can’t afford it.’’
According to a 2020 study in the New Zealand Medical Journal, 79 per cent of doctors had concerns
about prescribing medicinal cannabis.
‘‘GPS are overloaded, burnt out, and thinking of retiring. The idea of learning a whole new style of medicine is just too much for most GPS,’’ Gulbransen said.
Kali Mercier said she wanted to see change.
‘‘Decriminalisation or a statutory exemption [for people who use medicinal cannabis on the black market] is the absolute minimum I’d like to see.’’
The Ministry of Health said it was unable to verify the Drug Foundation’s data, and it did not play a role in setting the price of medicinal cannabis.
Police were contacted for comment about the illegal cannabis trade being used as an alternative to medicinal cannabis, but did not respond by deadline.