Sydney-based medical cannabis company Cannim announced on Monday (September 27th) that the company has acquired Holistic Caring — a cannabis education provider based in California.
Holistic Caring was founded by Elisabeth Mack back in May 2016. Ms Mack is a Registered Nurse in the US, where she sits on the boards for the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the California Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, and the American Cannabis Nurses Association.
She founded Holistic Caring to provide credible information and support to medical cannabis patients. Today, the organisation provides a range of medicinal cannabis training programs to clinicians worldwide.
Ms Mack will join Cannim as the Director of Clinical Affairs as a result of the acquisition. In this role, she will help Cannim grow its Lumir brand (which offers a range of cannabis oils) in the US. Cannim says the US currently accounts for 86% of the global cannabis market, so it’s an “important strategic focus” for the company. Cannim also believes that Holistic Caring will help the company reduce the anti-cannabis stigma that surrounds medical cannabis.
This training capability will help us break down the remaining stigma associated with cannabis-based medicines, in alignment with our core values of Safety, Science & Scale.
Stigma is a massive problem for the global medical cannabis market, as the myths around medical cannabis make doctors hesitant to prescribe it and patients scared to ask for it.
However, many clinicians, including Dr Jon Teh and Dr Jamie Rickford, believe education is the way forward. And “forward” is undoubtedly necessary, as the global market is growing quickly. While the global cannabis market was projected to be worth $20 billion (roughly $AU27) in 2020, it’s expected to grow to $US103.9 billion (roughly $AU143 billion) by 2024.
Cannim’s acquisition deal with Holistic Caring is only the latest big news from Cannim, as the company recently entered the German market as well.
