Lift News reports that interest in personal cultivation has been so popular that an extensive backlog has formed, with patients now reportedly waiting several months to get authorization. Information received by Lift shows that as of May 1, there are 4,480 individuals allowed to grow their own cannabis or designate someone to do so, almost doubling from the 2,554 reported as of February 9, and just over 2,000 at the end of last year, and as shown in the table above. As reported on CTV News, Albert Krespine of the 710 Compassion Club in Quebec has fielded many call from people who want to grow at home, saying that “70 percent of our patients want to grow their own cannabis or want someone to grow it for them to drop their cost of medicine”. In a discussion with Lift, Angelo Muscari, a nurse’s aide and physician assistant at National Access Cannabis suggests that about one in every four patients want to grow their own.
Since its launch of seed sales, Tweed has had modest interest compared to registrants that choose their finished product. One drawback to choosing seeds over finished product is the time it takes to receive approval. There are extra steps required in order to get Health Canada approval for home grows. Health Canada will reply within 10 days of receiving your application with any immediate issues such as missing forms or information. Altogether, the application can take up to
10 weeks to be processed depending on the urgency of the applicant’s condition and how complete and thorough the application materials are. On average, the process is estimated to take around 1-2 months to receive final approval, although some patients and physicians are witnessing wait times of up to four months. In that time, medical marijuana patients are able to purchase dry herb or oils from Tweed once they are registered clients. In addition to the time it takes to fully grow and extrapolate the buds, this could mean a six-month lag at a minimum. In this regard, from a purely financial perspective, it pays for companies such as Tweed, or Whistler Medical Marijuana Corporation, and others, to offer seeds for sale.
According to Brad Martin of CannStandard in Calgary, the average price of marijuana from a Health Canada licensed producer is $9.12 per gram, with that price declining slowly in the years to come.
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