An Overdue Prescription for Appreciating Medical Cannabis

While governmental prohibition of cannabis as a dangerous, illicit narcotic spanned across several decades, its traditional use in medicine has existed for millennia. It is therefore unsurprising that the medical benefits of cannabis helped its use to break through barriers of prohibition, regain medicinal legitimacy, and spawn the globally expanding industry we see today.

A demographically large population of consumers rely on cannabis for their physical and mental health. Though the numbers of official medical cannabis patients in a given state reliably decrease after full-fledged legalization of the plant, there remain significant numbers of consumers who continue using cannabis for medical purposes. Nevertheless, these patient groups are often stripped of any ability to use health insurance or other benefits to cover or defray the cost of their medicine. Meantime, brands and retailers are too often left seeking ways to meet the public’s needs despite restrictions on even discussing actual medical benefits, and patients’ doctors may remain insufficiently informed about cannabis medicine, creating a void of information.

New Frontier Data’s latest report, From Doctor to Dispensary: A Complete Picture of Medical Cannabis Consumers leverages data from our comprehensive 2022 Consumer Survey to dive deeply into consumers’ quantifiable knowledge and medicinal use of cannabis products, and share their routines, spending habits, and preferred products to help insurance companies, brands, and retailers to understand and best utilize the demographics detailing their primary and occasional customers.

Among key findings shared in the report:

• Medical consumers have key differences in how and why they choose cannabis compared to recreational consumers, something that brands and retailers should consider.
• Retailers should provide education-focused information on their menus, and promote product stability.
• Insurance companies should anticipate providing for patients’ use of medical cannabis as they do for other health-related prescriptions, treatments, or therapies.
• Brands can benefit from embracing the types of products that medical consumers use, like those high in CBD and with prominent terpene profiles.

Download a complimentary copy of the report.

About New Frontier Data
New Frontier Data is the premier data, analytics, and technology firm specializing in the global cannabis industry, delivering solutions that enable investors, operators, advertisers, brands, researchers, and policymakers to assess, understand, engage, and transact with the cannabis industry and its consumers.

Our mission is to inform policy and commercial activity for the global legal cannabis industry. We maintain a neutral position on the merits of cannabis legalization through comprehensive and transparent data analysis and projections that shape industry trends and dynamics while driving demand and opportunities. Founded in 2014, New Frontier Data is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with a presence in Europe, Latin America, and Africa. For more information about New Frontier Data, please visit us at https//www.NewFrontierData.com.

Media Contact:

Emily Watkins
New Frontier Data
+1 844-420-3882 ext. 3

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