Health Canada Releases Latest Data on Medical Cannabis Use

The latest data dump from Health Canada regarding the state of medical cannabis in the country indicates a steady growth and adoption of the drug all over the territory.
For the first time, Health Canada is revealing the breakdown of licensed medical cannabis use by province. The data collected includes information for the first quarter of the fiscal 2017-2018 year, meaning April, May, and June of this year. The Canadian agency is also detailing the number of medical practitioners who provided a medical document to a client registered with a licensed producer (LP).
In total 5,896 kilograms of licensed medical cannabis were sold through the first three months of the fiscal year. The data revealed Ontario clients made a bulk of the total purchases, amounting to 136,070 of the 292,289 total shipments in Canada. Alberta came in second with 97,962, interesting enough B.C. a major advocate of cannabis came in fourth behind Nova Scotia.

Analysis of the new data collection

As Alan Brochstein, cannabis analyst with 420 Investor explained on New Cannabis Ventures, “B.C. shuns the LPs given the abundance of dispensaries that operate.”
The number of health care practitioners who gave registered patients a medical document stayed pretty consisting, totaling 7,459 overall by the end of the time frame. Client registration across Canada saw a steady increase during the fiscal first quarter, with 564,101 new patients registered by the end of calculated time.
There were 201,398 active licensed clients at the end of June, a 168 percent growth according to Brochstein, who added while that number may seem encouraging it may indicate a larger issue.
“While this is very strong growth, it reflects a slowdown from the 29% growth in the prior quarter ending in March and the 32% growth in the quarter ending in December,” Brochstein explained. “The 20% sequential quarterly growth was the lowest since March 2015.”

Investor Takeaway

It will be interesting to keep a closer look at a number of cannabis LPs hold accounted for by Health Canada, as the country moves closer to full legalization and the expected shortage of cannabis takes place.
According to the data from Health Canada at the end of June, all LPs had a combined 68,723 kilograms of dried marijuana as part of their inventory.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Bryan Mc Govern, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.