Time To Change The Law On Drugs?

[quilp]

Interesting that more than 17,000 cannabis prescriptions were dispensed by Karson's, to date. At £30 per item. Some of those prescriptions will be for more than one item, three or more sometimes. That's potentially £90 added to the price of the product as prescribed.

Tidy money that. Even at a basic minimum it's beyond half a million. I can remember Karson's spokesman saying, following the first complaints about the £30/item charge were raised, that if the 'experiment' went well then Karson's would review the pricing. Not a word about that, to date.

It's all coming to an end, or not...

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/more-than-17000-prescriptions-for-medicinal-cannabis-dispensed/

 

[John Wright]

10 hours ago, quilp said:

Interesting that more than 17,000 cannabis prescriptions were dispensed by Karson's, to date. At £30 per item. Some of those prescriptions will be for more than one item, three or more sometimes. That's potentially £90 added to the price of the product as prescribed.

Tidy money that. Even at a basic minimum it's beyond half a million. I can remember Karson's spokesman saying, following the first complaints about the £30/item charge were raised, that if the 'experiment' went well then Karson's would review the pricing. Not a word about that, to date.

It's all coming to an end, or not...

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/more-than-17000-prescriptions-for-medicinal-cannabis-dispensed/

 

That’s quite a number, way above the UK rate. In the 4 years between November 2018 to October 2022 there were 96,000+/-. So, about 2,000 a month or 24,000 a year. At the same rate per capita we’d expect 32 a year in the IoM.

No longer is the IoM 85,000 alcoholics clinging to a rock.

The figures seem to show that the average “consumer” had 45 prescriptions a year. So, £1350 a year, plus the cost of the cannabis to Karsons 

Id assume, always dangerous, that it’s something to do with the microeconomics of price differential between UK and IoM in the illegal supply trade. Why pay for a private prescription and the cannabis in UK when it’s so much cheaper to just buy on the streets of Liverpool?

[WTF]

i imagine a few patients are sharing their prescription with friends too.

[Barlow]

3 hours ago, John Wright said:

No longer is the IoM 85,000 alcoholics clinging to a rock.

There are some that would be happy to have it 85,000 druggy bastards clinging to a rock.

[Roger Mexico]

5 hours ago, John Wright said:

That’s quite a number, way above the UK rate. In the 4 years between November 2018 to October 2022 there were 96,000+/-. So, about 2,000 a month or 24,000 a year. At the same rate per capita we’d expect 32 a year in the IoM.

Interestingly it's about the same as Guernsey, 12,000 in 10 months which equates to about 17,600 for 11 months here allowing for our larger population.  Jersey refused to issue any figures.

The UK figures look a bit dodgy even though they were derived from a House of Commons answer.  I found a figure of around 32,000 patients elsewhere, but it's still very small.

[TheTeapot]

6 hours ago, John Wright said:

]

Id assume, always dangerous, that it’s something to do with the microeconomics of price differential between UK and IoM in the illegal supply trade. Why pay for a private prescription and the cannabis in UK when it’s so much cheaper to just buy on the streets of Liverpool?

There is nothing 'special' about the stuff being sold as medical either, if anything street weed is better. The medical stuff that i have smoked wasn't all that. 

I remain of the opinion that the medical prescription situation is largely total bollocks. 

[quilp]

2 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

There is nothing 'special' about the stuff being sold as medical either, if anything street weed is better. The medical stuff that i have smoked wasn't all that. 

I remain of the opinion that the medical prescription situation is largely total bollocks. 

Can't agree with you here, it depends on the strain and there is a wide variety of strains and strengths available from the suppliers. The average THC content of street weed is between 16 and 20%. The strain I'm prescribed is 29/30% THC and its effect on nerve pain, headaches and sleeplessness is outstanding, I don't say this lightly either. It's also grown in sterile conditions so no chance of invisible mould growth. It can be irridated or not, you can choose. Taste and quality is guaranteed. It also works out at £8/gm. You can experiment with different strains to find one which suits you best.

What's not to like..? 

[TheTeapot]

16 minutes ago, quilp said:

Can't agree with you here, it depends on the strain and there is a wide variety of strains and strengths available from the suppliers. The average THC content of street weed is between 16 and 20%. The strain I'm prescribed is 29/30% THC and its effect on nerve pain, headaches and sleeplessness is outstanding, I don't say this lightly either. It's also grown in sterile conditions so no chance of invisible mould growth. It can be irridated or not, you can choose. Taste and quality is guaranteed. It also works out at £8/gm. You can experiment with different strains to find one which suits you best.

What's not to like..? 

Clearly I need to smoke more of it.

[quilp]

4 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

Clearly I need to smoke more of it.

Being able to 'legally' possess and consume has been the game-changer, obviously, removing the need to rely on an otherwise illegal and possibly infrequent (and sometimes iffy) supply. Never a drought, quality assured. No chance of getting one's collar felt.

I was impressed by the service. New patients to the scheme can receive frequent telephone calls from a support team in their first few weeks to monitor how they're getting on with the treatment and answer any questions.

The conclusions reached by any review of the, 'experiment' are keenly awaited. It would certainly appear to've been a financial success, aside from the patients for whom it has been a godsend.

Treble zeros all round 😄

Edited November 26, 2023 by quilp

[The Phantom]

On 11/26/2023 at 8:33 AM, WTF said:

i imagine a few patients are sharing their prescription with friends too.

Of course that is happening a little bit, but it honestly seems to literally just sharing with friends.  There hasn't been a sudden wave of medical weed hitting the streets. 

19 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

There is nothing 'special' about the stuff being sold as medical either, if anything street weed is better. The medical stuff that i have smoked wasn't all that. 

I remain of the opinion that the medical prescription situation is largely total bollocks. 

I thought it was pretty good on the couple of times I've had it.  What amazed me though was the seemingly huge amount 'prescribed' on the tub.  I remember working it out and it was something like a weeks worth would last me for over a month.  I'd be absolutely smashed if I'd take daily what they had prescribed. 

 

[WTF]

2 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Of course that is happening a little bit, but it honestly seems to literally just sharing with friends.  There hasn't been a sudden wave of medical weed hitting the streets. 

I thought it was pretty good on the couple of times I've had it.  What amazed me though was the seemingly huge amount 'prescribed' on the tub.  I remember working it out and it was something like a weeks worth would last me for over a month.  I'd be absolutely smashed if I'd take daily what they had prescribed. 

 

it's basically back door decriminalisation in the hope that the usual dealers lose their customers and the lack of buyers will put them out of business and hopefully things carry on that way up the chain ,  you just have to have the right story to tell the  doctor so they are able to justify writing you a prescription.   and you have to be able to afford the prescription, it will be interesting to somebody that isn't me whether this drives up or down the price of illicit weed. it could be a price war

[The Phantom]

18 minutes ago, WTF said:

it's basically back door decriminalisation in the hope that the usual dealers lose their customers and the lack of buyers will put them out of business and hopefully things carry on that way up the chain ,  you just have to have the right story to tell the  doctor so they are able to justify writing you a prescription.   and you have to be able to afford the prescription, it will be interesting to somebody that isn't me whether this drives up or down the price of illicit weed. it could be a price war

Either Canada or US (maybe both) that's happening already - with the taxes, fees and costs of adhering to regulations, it's now cheaper to go back to your illegal dealer.   My personal preference (and currently legal in a couple of Euro countries) would be a licence to grow a handful of your own plants.  Costs then really don't come into it. 

[John Wright]

1 hour ago, The Phantom said:

Either Canada or US (maybe both) that's happening already - with the taxes, fees and costs of adhering to regulations, it's now cheaper to go back to your illegal dealer.   My personal preference (and currently legal in a couple of Euro countries) would be a licence to grow a handful of your own plants.  Costs then really don't come into it. 

Let’s say you buy/get prescribed an ounce/25gm.

IoM police say that’s £500, on the street, from your dealer

Via Karsons it’s £230, including prescription fee.

[WTF]

4 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Let’s say you buy/get prescribed an ounce/25gm.

IoM police say that’s £500, on the street, from your dealer

Via Karsons it’s £230, including prescription fee.

what IOM police say and what it actually is may not be the same thing.

[John Wright]

2 minutes ago, WTF said:

what IOM police say and what it actually is may not be the same thing.

Well aware. But even if they’re overstating by 100%, and as long as you’re not buying “wholesale”, it’s still cheaper at Karsons, and, as Quilp observes, higher strength and better quality.