Potential market for medicinal cannabis: 1 million adults

Over 400,000 New Zealanders say they would definitely seek out medicinal cannabis products when they become widely available from 2020, according to a first of its kind survey by Horizon Research.

Gearing up to meet such significant demand, the country’s largest licensed medicinal cannabis company, Helius Therapeutics, has also announced the first national, accredited training programme on medicinal cannabis for New Zealand doctors, to take place in July and led by a global expert.

The move follows Helius commissioning Horizon Research to survey over 1,100 adult New Zealanders on whether they plan on accessing medicinal cannabis products once they become more widely and legally available next year.

The results provide the first real insight into the potential market size of medicinal cannabis in New Zealand.

On whether they would try seeking out products, what Helius calls a 'staggering' 14% of respondents answered ‘definitely’ equating to 431,900 New Zealanders.

Overall, 34% answered ‘definitely’, ‘most likely’, or ‘somewhat likely’ equating to a possible maximum market potential of 1,058,900 New Zealand adults.

Result overall:

‘Generally, do you think you will try accessing medicinal cannabis products once they become more widely and legally available next year?’

• 14% say definitely
• 10% say most likely
• 10% say somewhat likely
• 9% say somewhat not likely
• 23% say most unlikely
• 22% say definitely not
• 12% I’m really not sure  

The survey was conducted between 15 and 28 April 2019. Respondents are members of Horizon’s nationwide research panels. Results are weighted by age, gender, education level, personal income, employment status and party voted for at the 2017 general election to provide a presentative population sample. At a 95% confidence level, the maximum margin of error is +/- 2.9%.