Medical cannabis markets around the world are starting to show signs of early United States and Canadian-style progressions.
Consumer flower trends have moved toward much higher-quality and higher-potency cultivars. The extract market is starting to differentiate with more and more product choices and higher performance. Additionally, dispensaries are now beginning to emerge worldwide.
Patients increasingly prefer to visit U.S.-style dispensaries where the staff is knowledgeable about cannabis rather than relying solely on their general practitioner’s advice. In the U.S., a good budtender knows that finding the right product for you can make the difference between effective therapy and enjoyable consumption, and they help customers make an informed choice.
History
U.S. dispensaries emerged early in the regulated cannabis industry, beginning with small 5,000-square-foot grows in Southern California that needed storefronts to sell their medical product.
As more states legalized medical and adult-use cannabis, multi-state operators and vertically integrated companies became commonplace. These companies capture the entire value chain: cultivation, manufacturing and dispensary sales.
Canada copied the U.S. dispensary model but prevented vertical integration. Today, most Canadian cannabis companies have either gone bankrupt, are bankrupt, or are selling stock to avoid bankruptcy. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for cannabis wholesalers to remain solvent without the profits from consumer sales.
Enabling Education and Safe Access
Consumer education and ease of access have significant advantages in the dispensary model. For example, Florida is a medical market and averages almost $2 billion in medical cannabis sales. Patients receive a general prescription that allows them to walk into any dispensary and choose from a wide variety of products. In an adult-use market like California, anyone over 21 can walk into a dispensary and walk out with cannabis, with no prescription needed. The staff in both medical and adult-use dispensaries know the products well, so they can provide advice and help customers find the right cannabis product.
European Operations
European and global medical cannabis markets operate differently than the U.S. and Canadian cannabis markets.
Cultivators and manufacturers often must partner with both a distributor and narcotics-approved warehousing solution in each country they operate in. Pharmacies are the final sales points in every European medical market.
Some companies have sales teams and can bypass cannabis distributors to sell directly to pharmacies. Medical cannabis companies can also own and operate clinics that act as sales arms to drive prescription generation. Either way, the pharmacy remains the selling point.
Independent doctors and clinic staff aren’t as knowledgeable or up-to-date on the latest products as U.S. budtenders are. Doctors just hand out prescriptions, and while pharmacy staff are slightly more knowledgeable, there are very few employing people who understand cannabis or test the newest products. Finding a pharmacy where the staff is knowledgeable about cannabis is very rare. Usually, patients pick up products randomly or research what they want online.
The Dissemination of the Dispensary Model
U.S.-style dispensaries are emerging or will soon open in Australia, Switzerland, Israel and Germany.
In Australia, there are at least eight pharmacies that operate more like dispensaries; they are cannabis-centric and employ staff who understand cannabis. Some of the more prominent clinics in Australia also have their own pharmacies and distribution companies to capture margins. Still, more and more stores that cater specifically to cannabis are opening throughout the country.
In Israel, there are Cookies medical dispensaries. These are the country’s medical equivalent to dispensaries.
Switzerland is a hybrid medical and adult-use market. The country is home to strictly adult-use dispensaries that employ knowledgeable pharmacists. There are also specialized combination pharmacies and dispensaries that can sell both medical and adult-use cannabis.
Now, Germany is stating that with its recent regulatory changes surrounding cannabis, it will have the same types of cannabis dispensaries as Switzerland and the U.S.
These new-wave cannabis dispensaries, pharmacies and adult-use dispensaries are emerging around Europe and worldwide.
The Future
Patients want to patronize dispensaries where the staff is educated about the latest cannabis developments. Cannabis is a significant part of monthly expenditures for many people. Cannabis prices in global countries are high in comparison to the U.S., so trying different cannabis products to find the one that works for consumers can get expensive.
Having knowledgeable, specialized staff at locations where patients can visit without an appointment, pick up their prescriptions or simply buy cannabis products and receive answers or guidance is a much better consumer experience than relying on general doctors in random pharmacies.
Consumers and patients in the U.S. and Canada have proven that a favorable retail dispensing experience involves walking into a store with many product choices, receiving guidance from knowledgeable budtenders, and then walking out with cannabis.
Patients want it, regulators are getting comfortable with it and cannabis entrepreneurs understand the business model, so expect European and global cannabis markets to explode with U.S.-style dispensaries over the coming years.