newbiedoobieuk
Germinated
- Messages
- 4
- Likes/Reactions
- 15
- Clinic
- 🏴 Medicann
Without giving a lot of personal info away, I’ve used one of Medicann’s offshore clinics, transferred internally, and am now using Medicann UK’s remote clinic. This review will be broken into those three parts, from the perspective of someone who only just entered this market and knew nothing about the processes.
tl;dr - Medicann is an almost perfect company whose entire process hinges on a platform in desperate need of bug fixes and QOL improvements. If they can sort the app/portal out, I don’t see any reason why people wouldn’t use them.
MEDICANN OFFSHORE REVIEW
If you live offshore, either in Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, this will be for you. The most difficult part about this process was actually getting my summary of care from my GP, and not because they were being difficult, but because I’m an idiot and didn’t set up my app until 2025. I physically walked into the clinic and asked them to scan my SOC and upload to their system (which I’ll talk about later…).
Because I had commitments all that week, I was able to be seen first thing the next Monday by the specialist there. The consultation was thorough, but I never felt the need to fudge anything or amp up some of my symptoms to nudge the approval. I was just plainly honest about my previous usage of cannabis; where it helped, what I didn’t like about it, and what non-clinical benefits I could get from it. The doctors aren’t stupid, the vast majority of people will receive some recreational/non-clinical benefit so as long as you honestly contextualise it, it should be fine — I’ll do a follow-up post about why I feel fairly comfortable that this is a similar approach that a lot of the larger clinics take.
What surprised me was that I actually got suggested a type of cannabis for my conditions, even though apparently Indica/Sativa/Hybrid doesn’t really mean much nowadays (happy to be corrected).
I placed an order in the consultation (around 10am on Monday by the time I was done), and it was able to be picked up the same day.
I paid £51 for a 1.2g Grapey Grape cart, plus £20 dispensing, plus £15 for the vape. Total: £86.
I had informed both the doctor and non-clinical team about the fact I would be moving to the UK, and they told me exactly how to engage with that process. Initially, I was going to wait a month but moved to the UK a lot earlier so I started that process two days after retrieving my prescription - on Wednesday morning at about 8am.
By 12pm, I received a phone call from an onboarding assistant at Medicann UK.
INTERNAL TRANSFER PROCESS
Because Medicann operates a decentralised branch system, as opposed to a universal one, moving house requires you to change clinics which, in some ways, does feel a little bit like signing up for a new clinic. However, it’s meant to be easier to move internally (if that is an option) because in principle you’ve been approved and prescribed by largely the same people.
After, again, being honest about the reasons why the medication is beneficial was a hugely important factor in why I was approved straight away. But, I wanted to explore other clinics now that I was on the mainland to see if I truly was getting the best deal. I had engaged with Alternaleaf, Mamedifa, and Releaf. Even if their websites are nicer, and they have a slightly larger wider range of products, there are two big reasons why I’d still choose Medicann over any other provider:
The consultation was equally as thorough but there was some miscommunication or incongruency because the portal was allowing me to book an HCP call which, as it turns out, I already had on Wednesday at 12.
In the day or two after, I was eager to ensure that continuity would be maintained as I was running low on my product by Friday. At this point, I was getting a little more frustrated because it felt like they didn’t effectively communicate the next steps on that call, but at the same time I was literally on a train moving while taking that call so it’s likely I misheard or misunderstood some things - especially as I’m new to the market, was travelling, and was quite anxious.
By Friday, I had placed an order, paid for it, and was awaiting dispatch.
MID-REVIEW SANITY CHECK & TIMELINE
It’s been a lot of information so let me give you a day by day timeline:
Day 1 (Monday): Book consultation at Medicann Offshore for Day 8
Day 8 (Monday): Consultation at Medicann Offshore, order, pay for and pick up prescription
Day 10 (Wednesday): Transfer to Medicann UK
Day 12 (Friday): Order and pay for Medicann UK prescription
So, needless to say, a very fast turnaround and process where by Day 12, having ordered two separate 1g carts, I’d only spent £138. This includes the £20 dispensing charge for offshore, and the £5 delivery charge for mainland.
MEDICANN UK REVIEW
Now, as a patient of Medicann UK, I can discuss this market and how Medicann fits in that. Offshore clinics don’t really use telehealth services outside of a phone call, so I wasn’t aware of how much of the market relied on these. I prefer in person conversations so I hoped I’d be able to visit a clinic in person for my treatment, but not doing this isn’t something specific to Medicann UK and is how the market at large operates.
As I mentioned previously, the strongest benefit to Medicann as a company is that you don’t need to pay for your month’s prescription upfront.
The other benefit (for me) was that there are significant cost savings between the two branches of at least £15 per prescription, but oftentimes substantially more due to medication cost differences, which could lead to upwards of a 20% saving per prescription compared to the offshore branch.
One product that Medicann OS had that I was hoping UK would have is the Curaleaf pastilles. I didn’t expect UK to have 20mg ones, but they did, and on Day 13 (Saturday) I placed an order for them. The approval was done on the weekend as well, meaning I could pay for it then and by 12:30pm on Monday (Day 15) both the Day 12 and Day 13 orders had been dispatched with tracking.
I have zero complains about how Medicann operates as a company commercially and with regard to compliance and customer service.
HOWEVER… SCRIPT ASSIST
Medicann’s entire operation, from the back-end to the customer facing portal, is handled by a piece of software called Script Assist. This works across all jurisdictions in which Medicann operates.
The app (an apparently user-friendly interface for the customer side of Script Assist) is riddled with bugs. It automatically logs you out, it will be stuck in a log-in loop where it continually tries to sign in with FaceID, it doesn’t retain saved passwords, it constantly refreshes, and it’s incredibly frustrating. Given that people who need this medication may be susceptible to short temper, anxiety, PTSD, CPTSD, hypersensitivity, and other mental conditions that can be exacerbated by compounding small niggles, it seems a bit antithetical to your mission to not ensure that the thing you ask customers use causes them further issues.
There are also some UX quirks: things don’t work the same depending on the stage you’re at, e.g. you can’t view products until your prescription has been approved, when the product you apply for is being moved along the process, you can no longer see any information about the product unless you go back onto the shop page, and if the product is out of stock, it’s no longer available to view critical info (even as a back order or out of stock product).
HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT A SEVERE DETRIMENT
In spite of that really frustrating dimension to engaging with Medicann, because everything else I’ve described about the clinic is fantastic and because the portal can still be accessed using a browser, I would still recommend Medicann over any other clinic.
Everything about their clinic is straightforward, transparent, accessible, and pragmatic. If they can just sort out Script Assist, I can’t think of any reason why anybody would go for anywhere else:
Competitively priced products that you can purchase on demand within the remit of your prescription, pay a nominal delivery next day charge, and don’t spend a thing for a single call.
If anyone has any questions, I’ll be sure to reply if I can.
tl;dr - Medicann is an almost perfect company whose entire process hinges on a platform in desperate need of bug fixes and QOL improvements. If they can sort the app/portal out, I don’t see any reason why people wouldn’t use them.
MEDICANN OFFSHORE REVIEW
If you live offshore, either in Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, this will be for you. The most difficult part about this process was actually getting my summary of care from my GP, and not because they were being difficult, but because I’m an idiot and didn’t set up my app until 2025. I physically walked into the clinic and asked them to scan my SOC and upload to their system (which I’ll talk about later…).
Because I had commitments all that week, I was able to be seen first thing the next Monday by the specialist there. The consultation was thorough, but I never felt the need to fudge anything or amp up some of my symptoms to nudge the approval. I was just plainly honest about my previous usage of cannabis; where it helped, what I didn’t like about it, and what non-clinical benefits I could get from it. The doctors aren’t stupid, the vast majority of people will receive some recreational/non-clinical benefit so as long as you honestly contextualise it, it should be fine — I’ll do a follow-up post about why I feel fairly comfortable that this is a similar approach that a lot of the larger clinics take.
What surprised me was that I actually got suggested a type of cannabis for my conditions, even though apparently Indica/Sativa/Hybrid doesn’t really mean much nowadays (happy to be corrected).
I placed an order in the consultation (around 10am on Monday by the time I was done), and it was able to be picked up the same day.
I paid £51 for a 1.2g Grapey Grape cart, plus £20 dispensing, plus £15 for the vape. Total: £86.
I had informed both the doctor and non-clinical team about the fact I would be moving to the UK, and they told me exactly how to engage with that process. Initially, I was going to wait a month but moved to the UK a lot earlier so I started that process two days after retrieving my prescription - on Wednesday morning at about 8am.
By 12pm, I received a phone call from an onboarding assistant at Medicann UK.
INTERNAL TRANSFER PROCESS
Because Medicann operates a decentralised branch system, as opposed to a universal one, moving house requires you to change clinics which, in some ways, does feel a little bit like signing up for a new clinic. However, it’s meant to be easier to move internally (if that is an option) because in principle you’ve been approved and prescribed by largely the same people.
After, again, being honest about the reasons why the medication is beneficial was a hugely important factor in why I was approved straight away. But, I wanted to explore other clinics now that I was on the mainland to see if I truly was getting the best deal. I had engaged with Alternaleaf, Mamedifa, and Releaf. Even if their websites are nicer, and they have a slightly larger wider range of products, there are two big reasons why I’d still choose Medicann over any other provider:
- No consultation/onboarding charges, and
- Ability to order medication on demand within your prescription, and pay for it as and when, rather than once a large upfront cost once per month.
The consultation was equally as thorough but there was some miscommunication or incongruency because the portal was allowing me to book an HCP call which, as it turns out, I already had on Wednesday at 12.
In the day or two after, I was eager to ensure that continuity would be maintained as I was running low on my product by Friday. At this point, I was getting a little more frustrated because it felt like they didn’t effectively communicate the next steps on that call, but at the same time I was literally on a train moving while taking that call so it’s likely I misheard or misunderstood some things - especially as I’m new to the market, was travelling, and was quite anxious.
By Friday, I had placed an order, paid for it, and was awaiting dispatch.
MID-REVIEW SANITY CHECK & TIMELINE
It’s been a lot of information so let me give you a day by day timeline:
Day 1 (Monday): Book consultation at Medicann Offshore for Day 8
Day 8 (Monday): Consultation at Medicann Offshore, order, pay for and pick up prescription
Day 10 (Wednesday): Transfer to Medicann UK
Day 12 (Friday): Order and pay for Medicann UK prescription
So, needless to say, a very fast turnaround and process where by Day 12, having ordered two separate 1g carts, I’d only spent £138. This includes the £20 dispensing charge for offshore, and the £5 delivery charge for mainland.
MEDICANN UK REVIEW
Now, as a patient of Medicann UK, I can discuss this market and how Medicann fits in that. Offshore clinics don’t really use telehealth services outside of a phone call, so I wasn’t aware of how much of the market relied on these. I prefer in person conversations so I hoped I’d be able to visit a clinic in person for my treatment, but not doing this isn’t something specific to Medicann UK and is how the market at large operates.
As I mentioned previously, the strongest benefit to Medicann as a company is that you don’t need to pay for your month’s prescription upfront.
The other benefit (for me) was that there are significant cost savings between the two branches of at least £15 per prescription, but oftentimes substantially more due to medication cost differences, which could lead to upwards of a 20% saving per prescription compared to the offshore branch.
One product that Medicann OS had that I was hoping UK would have is the Curaleaf pastilles. I didn’t expect UK to have 20mg ones, but they did, and on Day 13 (Saturday) I placed an order for them. The approval was done on the weekend as well, meaning I could pay for it then and by 12:30pm on Monday (Day 15) both the Day 12 and Day 13 orders had been dispatched with tracking.
I have zero complains about how Medicann operates as a company commercially and with regard to compliance and customer service.
HOWEVER… SCRIPT ASSIST
Medicann’s entire operation, from the back-end to the customer facing portal, is handled by a piece of software called Script Assist. This works across all jurisdictions in which Medicann operates.
The app (an apparently user-friendly interface for the customer side of Script Assist) is riddled with bugs. It automatically logs you out, it will be stuck in a log-in loop where it continually tries to sign in with FaceID, it doesn’t retain saved passwords, it constantly refreshes, and it’s incredibly frustrating. Given that people who need this medication may be susceptible to short temper, anxiety, PTSD, CPTSD, hypersensitivity, and other mental conditions that can be exacerbated by compounding small niggles, it seems a bit antithetical to your mission to not ensure that the thing you ask customers use causes them further issues.
There are also some UX quirks: things don’t work the same depending on the stage you’re at, e.g. you can’t view products until your prescription has been approved, when the product you apply for is being moved along the process, you can no longer see any information about the product unless you go back onto the shop page, and if the product is out of stock, it’s no longer available to view critical info (even as a back order or out of stock product).
HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT A SEVERE DETRIMENT
In spite of that really frustrating dimension to engaging with Medicann, because everything else I’ve described about the clinic is fantastic and because the portal can still be accessed using a browser, I would still recommend Medicann over any other clinic.
Everything about their clinic is straightforward, transparent, accessible, and pragmatic. If they can just sort out Script Assist, I can’t think of any reason why anybody would go for anywhere else:
Competitively priced products that you can purchase on demand within the remit of your prescription, pay a nominal delivery next day charge, and don’t spend a thing for a single call.
If anyone has any questions, I’ll be sure to reply if I can.
