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Further implications
Legalising recreational cannabis needs to be carefully managed if it is to give the benefits its supporters want without opening up corporate exploitation and mass markets which could lead to some of the problems associated with the legal sale of tobacco-based cigarettes.As a parallel instance, the involvement of international pharmaceutical companies has created problems with the supply of medicinal cannabis since its legalisation in Australia. New research from the University of Sydney's Lambert Initiative finds most Australians are still medicating with illicit cannabis, although numbers accessing prescription products have risen dramatically. The driving force behind the continued use of illicit cannabis is the cost of the legally supplied product which is an estimated average of $79 per week.
Those using the illegal product have been denied the advantages of quality and dose control that come with the prescription product, but many are driven back to the 'green market' or grow their own product because they cannot afford the cost of the alternative. The Medicinal Cannabis Users Association has found that 48 percent of the patients that received scripts were not able to afford to get them filled.
Australia currently relies on overseas pharmaceutical companies to supply medicinal cannabis and the result is a product outside the reach of many users. One medicinal cannabis advocate, Deb Lynch, has noted that local suppliers are being bought out by their overseas competitors. Lynch has stated, 'Many of the Aussie companies are being swallowed up by big international players. Some have had harvests, and their products have gone offshore. There are still literally no Aussie products available.' Similar concerns have been raised regarding what might occur if recreational cannabis were legalised in Australia. There are apprehensions that cannabis may come to be produced and promoted by international mega corporations as a safer alternative to cigarettes, with all the potential for increased consumption that this prospect suggests. As an indication of Big Tobacco\s interest in the commercial supply of cannabis, in July 2023 it became known that multinational tobacco company Philip Morris had agreed to purchase Israeli cannabis company Syqe Medical for $650 million.
Here the concern is not that there would be a relative shortage of supply, as is the case with medicinal cannabis in Australia. The hazard is the reverse, mass supply, for a mass market (which could also lead to increased illegal use of cannabis by children).The model proposed by the Greens for legalising, producing, and distributing cannabis is deliberately designed to avoid the problems associated with large-scale commercial production. Greens senator Shoebridge has stated that the consulation over his party's draft bill had revealed that Australians do not want an overly corporatised scheme.
Thus, the Greens are proposing a legal marketplace prioritising cottage industries and co-ops. One major obstacle to this vision, however, is that the Greens are promoting legalised recreational cannabis as a source of taxation revenue. On both a federal and a state level the Greens will only be able to have their cannabis legalisation bills passed if they can attract the support of one of the major parties. This may only come with the promise of substantial taxation returns from the product. Unfortunately, heading down this path could lead to the involvement of mega corporations and the mass consumption their marketing models rely on.When legalising recreational cannabis in 2017, Canada also intended to avoid the mass corporatisation of the market. However, recent developments suggest they may not be successful. British American Tobacco has since bought a nearly 20 percent stake (US$ 175.8m) in Canadian cannabis producer Organigram, while Altria (parent company of Philip Morris USA) has invested US$1.8bn for a 45 percent stake in Cronos, one of the "Big Four" of the Canadian cannabis industry, and Imperial Brands have bought almost 20 percent (or US$93.6m) of Auxly Cannabis, another Canadian cannabis company.