Disrupting Healthcare - How Cannabis Will Change Healthcare Forever

cannabis healthcare disruption

A recent article from TheHill.com from this year shows the dramatic effect cannabis legalization is having on OTHER industries such as pharmaceuticals, tobacco, and alcohol. There has always been a undertone or murmur of trying to figure out how much market share legal marijuana was taking from those industries. Reports came out by state and some varied on how much of in impact legal cannabis was having on the other massive industries.

In the most comprehensive study comparing absolute numbers to relative numbers, The Hill article point out the following.

Last month, a team of researchers from Canada and the United States surveyed over 2,000 federally registered medical cannabis patients with regard to their use of cannabis and other substances. (Medical cannabis access has been legal across Canada for nearly two decades).

Investigators reported that nearly 70 percent of respondents said that they substituted cannabis for prescription medications, primarily opioids. Forty-five percent of those surveyed acknowledged substituting cannabis for alcohol and 31 percent of respondents said that they used marijuana in place of tobacco.

Among those who reported replacing alcohol with cannabis, 31 percent said they stopped using booze altogether, while 37 percent reported reducing their intake by at least 75 percent. Fifty-one percent of those who reported substituting cannabis for tobacco said that they eventually ceased their tobacco use completely.

These numbers are staggering when you consider that not many physicians can legally recommend to patients to drop their prescription drugs and go to cannabis. Some states and some parts of Canada allow for doctors to now prescribe cannabis for those things but to tell someone to get off their FDA-approved medications for weed is a bigger step.

70% of respondents said they dropped some prescriptions meds for cannabis. The surprising part was that many referenced opioids. My guess would have been sleep aid medications like Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonata would have been most substituted to start. Why? Cannabis has always been a natural sleep aid for hundreds of years and getting someone off Ambien and onto cannabis is much less daunting than getting someone off fentanyl and onto medical marijuana. Opioids are generally prescribed for serious pain level management, the levels that OTC drugs can’t help you get relief from. Seeing 7 out of 10 people in serious pain switch over to cannabis is a major star for the industry, as those people are not trying to catch some more shut eye but dealing with serious pain issues.

Some estimates have Big Pharma losing $18.5 billion a year to fully legalized cannabis in North America.

The 45% using cannabis instead of alcohol makes sense but the highest numbers generally put out by state studies is that alcohol sales drop anywhere from 12% to 16% in states that have legal cannabis.

Remember, recreational cannabis is an elastic consumer good as people only have so much discretionary income in their lives. Some people have an extra $20 a week to spend on “fun” stuff, some have $100, and others, $10,000. No matter what you have to spend on “fun’ things, if you put half of your money into a recreational cannabis sale, that leaves you with half the money to spend on booze, bowling, or dancing. The alcohol industry is most vulnerable to the cannabis legalization wave as millennials are turning to cannabis and not alcohol for enjoyment, and the health benefits of switching are being felt from seniors all the way down to people in their 20s. 3 out of 10 respondents said they quit booze altogether, as in, they don’t drink beer, wine, or liquor anymore. That is amazing to see and terrifying to alcohol companies. Imagine a Federal law change that would wipe out 30% of your consumers overnight. 30% Leave alcohol altogether and even more cut back and use cannabis now and much less alcohol.

Tobacco users, which are 99% cigarette smokers and a few weekend cigar smokers, are jumping ship at a clip of 51%! Basically, half of all cigarette smokers end up quitting cigarettes for cannabis completely. Now, imagine a Federal law change that would wipe out half your customers overnight if you are the tobacco industry? Any questions on why Altria and Phillip Morris are thinking about a merger now? Why did Constellation Brands (big liquor) put $5 billion into cannabis powerhouse Canopy Growth? Altria bought a large share of Kronos Cannabis as well.

The writing is on the wall, the world will be much healthier and look a lot different when Federal legalization is passed, and cannabis is removed from the Controlled Substance Act. Major industries will be cut in half overnight when the world discoveries the healthy and enjoyable aspects of cannabis for such things as sleep, anxiety, pain management, and depression. That doesn’t even go into the medical aspect for such things as epilepsy, fibromyalgia, and autism.