Episode 1
· 19:48
Hi. My name's Natalie D'Alessandro. Welcome to the very first episode of Plant Rants. I've been talking about launching this podcast for a while now, and I'm super excited, a bit nervous, to finally get started. The idea of this podcast series is to chat with cannabis industry insiders.
Natalie:If you've ever done this, you may have noticed that some of us love to get on a plant rant, me included. Usually though, just beyond the frustration of a challenge, there's a really great opportunity. And that's eventually what I want this podcast to focus on. Getting these rants off our chest is really important, and I love it, and I love listening to it, but so is coming up with a plan to make sure we aren't stuck in a cycle of frustration. We can complain about things and nothing will change, But what's cool about this is that just beyond industry wide challenges, I think there lies the opportunity for collaboration.
Natalie:And together, I believe we can address common frustrations in a joyful and productive way. And I think most of us would agree that what we want is for anyone who could benefit from medicinal cannabis to be able to have easy and equitable access. So in the spirit of start low and go slow, I'm easing into this podcast series super low and incredibly slow. This episode is literally just me reading an article, that was published in The Age behind a paywall. No opinions and certainly no video.
Natalie:Anyone who knows me knows you could absolutely tell what I'm thinking if you see my face. Let me know if my voice belies what I'm thinking, but I will try and do my best to read with a neutral tone. I love the fact that I stumbled over that. I'm gonna do this in one take because I can't figure out how else to do it without, killing the perfectionist in me. So because this is my passion, I'm subscribed to most cannabis media.
Natalie:Let me know if there's anything you're interested in hearing, and I'll do my best to record it for you. I think it's really important that we have open access to anything that's going on around us in the media if we're in the industry. This will be super helpful while I find my podcast voice and hone my skills. And as always, I love all feedback, so please share your thoughts with me. You can find me on LinkedIn or request an invitation to our events at the Viz Medicinal website.
Natalie:In future episodes of Plant Rants, I can't wait to share the rants of my favorite doctors, nurses, pharmacists, MSLs, growers, and the colorful CEOs, and more. But for now, no opinions, just the news. A quick heads up, I have been told I speak very fast. If I speak too fast for you, try adjusting your playback speed. If you normally listen at 1.2 or 1.5 and you're a fast talker like me, you might need to slow it down again.
Natalie:In this podcast, we'll delve into the important topics about medicinal cannabis and its portrayal in the media. Unfortunately, the media, fails to report okay, so that's not actually what we're doing. We're not delving into important topics about medicinal cannabis. I'm just reading you the news. So one thing I did wanna mention though is that unfortunately, the media often fails to report on medicinal cannabis positively, and I wanna change that narrative.
Natalie:I'll be hosting a webinar in the coming weeks for industry and health care professionals. It's a cannabis industry media masterclass to help to understand media dynamics and learn how to use the media interest to our advantage. And by advantage, I mean ensuring that medicinal cannabis is available to all those who need it and that they can access it readily. So without further ado, here is the article in The Age. Thanks so much for joining me today.
Natalie:If you enjoy what you hear, please share it with others who might benefit. And if you're interested in attending our media master class, please register for an invitation via our website atvismedicinal.com. That's v I z m e d icinal.com. The age. How big business pushes a product it's not allowed to advertise?
Natalie:Strict laws forbid the promotion of prescription medicines, but medicinal cannabis companies are getting creative and business is booming. By Angus Thompson and Patrick Begley, May 22 2024, 11:30 AM. Then there's an image of a superimposed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle over the top of a cannabis leaf with the caption, medicinal cannabis clinics have adopted unconventional advertising tactics. And the image is by Monique Westerman. It's not your typical act of corporate generosity, giving away $3,000,000 worth of cannabis.
Natalie:That's what's on offer from Stanley Brothers, a Colorado based company that says it has made more than $1,500,000 in medicinal cannabis sales since entering the Australian market in January. The family business has made a fortune in the United States selling Charlotte's Web, a cannabis oil named after Charlotte Figgy, a young girl whose parents found cannabis oil reduced seizures caused by Dravet syndrome, a form of epilepsy. Now the company is spruiking free cannabis medicine for Australian patients within inverted commas, life limiting illnesses and serious medical conditions, closed captions, who cannot afford treatment. But Stanley Brothers' philanthropic gesture has caught the eye of the therapeutic goods administration as the medicine's watchdog grapples with the explosive growth of Australia's medicinal cannabis market, one of the most lucrative in the world. And then there's a picture of a Dolphin Rugby League player from his nostrils to just below his nipple line and a a piece of masking tape covering over the Alterna Leif logo with a caption that says, a Dolphins player last month whose jersey was taped over to block the AlternaLeaf logo.
Natalie:The logo has since been removed entirely, and that's a Getty image. A crop of entrepreneurs with backgrounds and sectors including medicine, law, real estate, gambling, and crypto have capitalized on this boom, setting up dedicated, in inverted commas, cannabis clinics, closed commas, that both prescribe and sell medicinal cannabis products. As a prescription medicine, cannabis cannot be advertised to the public, but the clinics, many of which have used coded references to, in inverted commas, plant based medicine, promote themselves through unconventional means, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles inspired ads, a cannabis event called Buds and Bowls, and even an NRL sponsorship. Aggressive advertising tactics employed by parts of the industry have also attracted scrutiny from psychiatrists who are concerned that products containing THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis plant, are being inappropriately prescribed to young patients of at risk of psychosis. In the case of Stanley Brothers and its giveaway, a TGA spokesperson said, in inverted commas, the use of testimonials and endorsements about medicinal cannabis and offering or distributing samples of medicinal cannabis products to the public are likely to be promotional and raise concerns, closed caption.
Natalie:And then there's an image of a growing budding flower that looks quite mature. Oh, and the caption says, a mature cannabis plant growing legally on a farm in New South Wales, and the image is from from Janie Barrett. Stanley Brothers met the TGA earlier this month to discuss the regulator's concerns. It's important to clarify that the Give Back initiative is a charitable financial assistance program aimed at helping people in need, and we do not need to consider it to constitute advertising or sampling as defined by regulatory standards. Now that was a quote by director of marketing, Mark DeLuca, that he said in a statement.
Natalie:There's a heading exponential growth. Since its legalization in 2016, doctors have written more than 1,000,000 cannabis scripts to help with problems ranging from chronic pain to anxiety, sleep issues, and depression. And then there's an ad for top 5 ASX Mining Stocks TO Buy. Many patients are paying between $203100 a month for products ranging from oils to flowers in an industry worth 100 of 1,000,000 of dollars. There's a picture of Barry Lambert with his granddaughter who donated $33,000,000 to cannabis research, and that's the caption.
Natalie:And, the image is by James Brickwood. So far, the TGA has approved only 2 cannabis products, one to treat muscle rigidity caused by multiple sclerosis and another to alleviate rare forms of childhood epilepsy. Prominent investor, Barry Lambert, and his wife, Joy, whose granddaughter suffered from one of the epilepsy syndromes, has donated $33,000,000 to Sydney University to research cannabis treatments and launched his own cannabis company on the ASX in 2019. Former rugby league star Andrew Johns has used cannabis oil to reduce pain and seizures, which he says may be linked to concussions he sustained while playing the game. Johns now works as an adviser to Levin Health, a company organizing clinical trials to research cannabis's effect on chronic pain, concussion, and sports injuries.
Natalie:But today, almost all medical cannabis products are prescribed off label as they do not sorry. As they have not undergone TGI assessment for safety, quality, and effectiveness. Open quotation. It is an unapproved therapeutic that has had an extraordinary rate of prescribing, close quotations, said doctor Christine Hallinan, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne. Hallinan is concerned that cannabis has come to be seen as a panacea, and that the medical system's ability to monitor adverse effects has not kept pace with an, inverted commas, exponential rise in prescribing, driven by word-of-mouth and the streamlined access offered by telehealth companies.
Natalie:She goes on to say, the minute people put medicinal cannabis in a search bar, up come all these companies, she says. Some in the industry have borrowed elements of stoner culture to attract customers, and then there's an image of a turtle, I believe it's Donatello, he's the purple one, with a splash in a green neon that says learn more now, and the caption says part of an ad for the Healing Leaves Clinic, which employed imagery reminiscent of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, and the image was supplied. Healing Leaves has promoted its telehealth service with the slogan, come out of your shell, paired with characters reminiscent of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the eighties cartoon character that once featured in a government ad warning teenagers off marijuana. We get it, bro, one ad said to potential customers who might be feeling their age. Hey.
Natalie:We're all going to the same place. Why not enjoy the time you have here? Founder, Victor Caprio, who also works as a real estate agent on the Gold Coast, said he had no comment. Last month, several cannabis companies sponsored and gave presentations at Buds and Bowls, a Brisbane event that included DJ sets, lawn bowls, and a tent in which patients could vaporize their medicines. And then there's an image of the Buds and Bowls promotional poster with a caption that says the buds and bowls event was sponsored by several cannabis companies, including telehealth clinics, and the image was supplied.
Natalie:The TGA said it was aware of the event, and while it doesn't comment on individual cases, its advertising rules apply to in person events, speeches, and banners just as they apply on social media and online. John Tay, medical director and owner of the telehealth clinic Plantman, said his business' sponsorship of Buds and Bowls was educational and advocacy based, not advertising, and the event was a closed forum. Tay said PlantMed spends nothing on social media marketing and fully complies with TGA rules, which disadvantages the businesses compared with companies that have large advertising budgets and a willingness to push boundaries. Opening quote inverted commas. Some of the larger companies have got very deep pockets, very large backing, and the distinct disadvantage comes because we comply and we follow the regulations, and we don't advertise directly to patients, he said.
Natalie:The legislation, by accident, I think, is directing people to the less reputable recreational side of medicinal cannabis to the clinics which have got strong medical boundaries. Sorry. I'll read that again. The legislation by accident, I think, is directing people to the less reputable recreational side of medicinal cannabis to the clinics which haven't got strong medical boundaries, close quotations. Australia's biggest clinic.
Natalie:One company with a sizable marketing budget is AlternaLeaf, the biggest clinic in Australia, which boasts more than a 150,000 patients and soaring revenue. This year, it partnered with the dolphins NRL team, the first professional sports sponsorship by a cannabis company in Australia, but the dolphins have since decided to remove AlternaLeaf as a Jersey sponsor following inquiries from the TGA, which last month launched legal action against the cannabis business in the federal court. The legal complaint, which did not mention the NRL sponsorship alleged that parts of AlternaLeaf website, videos of patient testimonials, social media posts, and a light projection the company installed in the Sydney CBD breached advertising laws. The TGA contends that unauthorized advertising of medicinal cannabis poses a risk of harm to patients who may choose cannabis over other more suitable products and who may be swayed by information that fails to provide a complete picture of benefits versus risks. A spokesperson for Alternately's parent company, Montoux, said it would vigorously depend bend these proceedings, but otherwise declined to comment on the litigation, which also named managing director Christopher Strauch, I don't know how to pronounce his name, as a respondent.
Natalie:The German born Strauch cofounded Montu in 2019, having previously created token 2049, cryptocurrency conference business that hosts events in Dubai and Singapore. He remains an investor in the business, which has also raised more than $5,000,000 in crowdsourced funds. Corporate records show Montu earned $96,000,000 in revenue in Australia last financial year, an annual increase of 471%. The company spent $7,000,000 on marketing, including ads on social media, TV, radio, and buses. Late last year, it was telling potential suppliers that Alternaive had added roughly 40,000 new patients in the past 3 months, and demand for prescriptions had nearly doubled in the previous quarter.
Natalie:Open quotation marks. They've become a monolith in what seems like overnight, says Phoebe MacLeod, a former lawyer who started the medicinal cannabis business, Heyday Medical, with her GP brother, open quotation marks. You've got to question, how do they attract that many patients so quickly, close quotation marks. McLeod says most of the industry is made up of responsible companies that are compliant with the TGA rules. She describes AlternaLeaf as an aggressive marketer with a big budget buying up Google advertising on rivals so that when people search her company's name, they'll turn leave for peers as the first result.
Natalie:The rise of single product telehealth clinics is not unique to cannabis. Others have sprung up around the weight loss drug Ozempic and nicotine vapes, but they are a departure from the standard model in which doctors prescribe and pharmacists dispense. Australian Medical Association guidelines state that doctors should generally avoid dispensing medicines they prescribe unless the benefit to patients outweigh any safety concerns. Where dispensing by a doctor does occur, it should be based on clinical need and not for the purpose of material gain as this introduces the risk of real or perceived conflicts of interest, the guideline states. McLeod says Heyday Medical manages conflicts by prominently disclosing its financial interests and allowing patients to opt out of being prescribed products developed by the business.
Natalie:But alternately, spokeswoman Kelly King said in a statement, there was no conflict of interest in a business prescribing a product it also sold. Open quotation marks. We are building a much needed infrastructure and filling the very gaps in the system that otherwise have let patients down, King said. We cannot and do not interfere with doctors prescribing judgment, nor do we require patients to fulfill their script with our network of dispensing pharmacies. Close quotations.
Natalie:Alterna leaf came under fire in 2022 after the news site, cannabis, reported a community manager working for the cannabis company had approached medical users on social media. Open quotation. We've got a few new flowers out, close quotation, the manager wrote, offering 2 tubs of free cannabis and a GP appointment to obtain a prescription in exchange for reviews on social media platforms such as Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram. And then there's an ad that says 3 best dividend stocks on ASX. AlternaLeaf declined to answer questions about the results of an investigation it had promised to undertake into the incident.
Natalie:We do not wanna see cowboys. Jeremy Buckingham, who represents the Legalised Canada's Party in New South Wales Upper House, says the vast majority of companies were doing the right thing, abiding by TGA regulations and plowing money into research and development. He says the rules around obtaining a license are very strict, but authorities are not doing enough to ensure companies were complying. Open quotation marks. We do not want to see cowboys who are motivated by profit putting the integrity of the system at risk, he says.
Natalie:Too many patients too many users rely on medicinal cannabis, close quotation. And then there is a picture of Legalised Cannabis. MLC Jeremy Buckingham said most companies in the medicinal cannabis industry acted responsibly, and the image is from Brooke Mitchell. The Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists or ranzzcp wrote to AUSDOC, a trade publication for doctors, in August after one of its psychiatry newsletters included an advertisement claiming medicinal cannabis could help with PTSD, schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression, encouraging doctors to prescribe with a company called Canvue. Ozdoc later apologized saying the advertisement should never have been published and that it was reviewing its advertising process to prevent a repeat occurrence.
Natalie:Doctor Brett Emmerson, chair of the RANZCP's Queensland branch, said he was receiving regular reports of people with schizophrenia who were not being properly screened before they were prescribed THC, the main psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant. Open quotations. Our view is that the medicinal cannabis industry is becoming akin to both the tobacco industry and the alcohol industry, Emerson said. Their business depends on people, I lost my train of thought. Their business depends on people using their products, and there seems to be this ever expanding use of medicinal cannabis for a variety of conditions for which there is no evidence.
Natalie:I lost my train of thought because I wanted to go back to my intro and outro, and I can't find my outro. Wait one second. Let's see if I've got it. No. There is no outro.
Natalie:If you enjoy what you heard, please share it with others. And if you're interested in attending our media master class, that's coming up to talk about, how we should be interacting with media and give us a bit better understanding of it, please register at our website, vismedicinal.com. Thanks so much, and I look forward to your feedback.
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