Before licensed dispensaries, venture capital, and mass-market branding, there were patients.
The legal cannabis industry exists today because of them. It was patients—people living with AIDS, cancer, autism, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and other debilitating conditions—who fought for legalization. Their advocacy, their stories, and their medical needs convinced policymakers to take cannabis seriously.
Yet, today, those patients have been left behind.
In my role as co-founder and chief commercial officer of Cannformatics, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with medical cannabis physicians, nurses, and patients. I’ve seen firsthand what they need—and how frustrated they are with an industry that has deprioritized them.
Meanwhile, the cannabis market is struggling. Flower prices have collapsed, profit margins are shrinking, and brands are failing to differentiate themselves. Yet millions of patients, people suffering from over 80 medical conditions linked to the endocannabinoid system, are still searching for products designed for them.
How can a patient, following a doctor’s advice to “start low and go slow,” find a low-dose, full-spectrum THC product when dispensary shelves are stocked with items starting at 5 milligrams THC, with few options beyond a basic 1:1 THC-to-CBD ratio?
It’s time for the cannabis industry to return to its roots. The future of sustainable growth isn’t just in chasing recreational consumers—it’s in finally delivering what medical patients have needed all along.
And for brands willing to step into this space, the opportunity is massive.
The Medical Cannabis Market is Waiting—And It’s Big
Despite the industry’s focus on recreational products, there is a huge, underserved market of medical cannabis patients.
The market potential for medical cannabis includes:
- Chronic Pain: Affects 50 million U.S. adults; pain management market projected to reach $115.5 billion by 2031
- Endometriosis: Impacts 10% of women of reproductive age worldwide (~190 million people worldwide).
- Alzheimer’s Disease: Nearly 7 million Americans are affected; cases are expected to close to double by 2050.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Over 5.4 million U.S. adults and one in 36 children diagnosed; many caregivers already exploring cannabis for symptom relief.
Yet, most cannabis products are designed for recreational consumers, not medical patients.
Cannabis brands have spent the last decade prioritizing THC potency and branding over research, development and medical formulations. The result? An industry where patients struggle to find standardized, effective, properly labeled, and well-researched products.
This isn’t just a failure of vision; it’s a massive missed business opportunity.
How Cannabis Brands Can Win in the Medical Market
Brands that move beyond flower and generic edibles will lead this space. Here’s what it takes:
- Develop Targeted Medical Formulations: Instead of generic THC/CBD ratios, create products tailored for specific conditions, like neuropathic pain, inflammation, sleep disorders, and women’s health.
- Invest in Research and Patient Trials: Small-scale studies can demonstrate product efficacy without requiring massive budgets. Even limited clinical data can set a brand apart.
- Upgrade Packaging and Labeling: Medical patients need precise, measurable doses, expiration dates, and proper storage directions to ensure consistency and efficacy. Brands that prioritize this will build trust.
- Build Relationships with Health Care Providers: Partnering with doctors, nurses, and patient advocacy groups creates credibility, trust, and referral networks that drive sales and brand loyalty.
The brands that invest in R&D, patient engagement, and clinical validation today will establish themselves as the trusted leaders in medical cannabis tomorrow.
This Market is Available—But Not for Long
The medical cannabis opportunity won’t remain wide open forever. Eventually, multinational corporations will enter this space with aggressive acquisition strategies. The brands that move now by investing in R&D, clinical trials, and patient relationships will be in the strongest position to lead, whether through market dominance or high-value partnerships.
The question isn’t whether medical cannabis will become a major segment of the industry—it’s who will control it.
Cannabis brands don’t need to cede this space to the Fortune 500. Those with the right investment in medical cannabis R&D, product innovation, and patient engagement now will be the ones shaping the future.
The time to act is now. Who’s ready to step up?
Kenneth Epstein is the co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Cannformatics, a biotechnology start-up developing and applying Cannabis-Responsive™ biomarker technology to guide health care providers and patients to evidence-based personalized medical cannabis treatment.
