Every single day, approximately seven people are being given the go-ahead by their doctors to use medicinal cannabis in Australia. This is according to fresh research, which demonstrates that Australia’s cannabis industry could pull in billions of dollars over the next 10 years.

So promising is Australia’s cannabis industry that two of Canada’s largest cannabis producers are expanding operations across the country.

Canopy Growth Corp recently launched ‘Spectrum’ – a Victoria-based facility to produce high-quality medicinal cannabis.

Another major player in the Canadian cannabis industry, Aurora Cannabis,

Australia’s cannabis industry: Medical weed was legalized two years ago

Although medicinal cannabis was legalized nationally in the “Land Down Under” two years ago, access to the green plant remains tightly restricted. However, thanks to a new online application system, the rate at which patients are being approved for medical cannabis in Australia has drastically improved in recent times.

A total of 469 applications were approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration between the months of August and September this year. Those applications were accepted under the Special Access Scheme. When compared to the mere 97 medical cannabis applications that were approved between January and February, it’s a major improvement.

According to the TGA, patient numbers cannot be calculated precisely and there is a possibility that a single patient could have more than one application accepted. In spite of this, Australia’s cannabis industry is anticipated to explode in the very near future.

Australia’s cannabis industry: Market intelligence firm foresees a billion-dollar market

Prohibition Partners, which describes itself as “the leading source of market intelligence and strategic insight into Europe’s legal cannabis industry,” predicts that the annual value of Australia’s medicinal cannabis market will swell to $1.2 billion by 2024. Just four years after that, the market is expected to harvest as much as $3 billion per year.

In addition to the medicinal cannabis sector, the report from Prohibition Partners claims that Australia’s recreational cannabis industry could be worth a whopping $8.8 billion annually within a decade. Well, that is if the plant is legalized for adult use Down Under.

A 47-year-old father from New South Wales was one of the first Aussies to get his hands on legal cannabis oil. Simon Sweeting used to take 10-15 tablets daily as a way of relieving chronic spinal pain. Sweeting asserts that, prior to being approved for medicinal-grade cannabis oil, he had to try and put his GP’s mind at rest for nearly a year. Soon after he began using cannabis oil in February, Sweeting was able to ditch traditional painkillers.

“I take the oil daily, orally in a liquid form that tastes a bit like grapeseed oil,” the medical cannabis patient explained to the Australian Associated Press. “It’s changed my life.”