MediGreen has opened the doors of its second combined dispensary and clinic, with its founders aiming to raise the bar for patient care in the medicinal cannabis space.
The new location in Carnegie, an eastern Melbourne suburb, will provide consulting, prescribing, and dispensing services close to MediGreen's existing Bentleigh site.
Co-owners Angelica Rostov and Sharon Miller say the fit-out offers patients a markedly different experience from anything the business has delivered before.
In contrast to MediGreen's first clinic and dispensary — which the pair took on from a franchise network with little room for renovation — the Carnegie site has been built out entirely to their own specifications.
Rostov said the outcome is a welcoming, comfortable space designed to ease stigma and put patients at ease.
"We were unable put our mark on the Bentleigh location but this is our vision, our baby," she said. "It is still a medical approach, but we've chosen every piece of furniture, all the designs. The attention to detail has created a relaxing environment for patients that will help reduce the stigma that still exists around cannabis."
The site features educational materials covering topics such as the endocannabinoid system, and staff are available to help patients understand medicinal cannabis and how to use it in its various forms.
The opening came several months later than originally planned, largely due to the demanding licensing requirements that govern medicinal cannabis premises — obtaining approval for a change of front door alone took close to six months. Even so, Miller said the clinic has set a standard others in the industry should aim to meet.
"The clinic, and especially the pharmacy, are aimed at setting that standard of what anyone else coming into the market needs to achieve," she said. "We're promoting medicinal cannabis, but we're doing it to a higher level and in a way that demonstrates it's a serious medicine."
Miller said regulators have gone so far as to adopt the site as a reference point for training inspectors assessing new clinic and dispensary settings.
"They're going to be using us as a training ground for their inspectors," Miller said. "They have been really good to us from day one, from when we had our first inspection. We were asking questions about what was right, what was wrong, how we could fix it. We've always worked very closely with them.
"There is no need to be afraid of any regulatory body if you're doing the best that you can. If you're worried, you're obviously doing something wrong."
Since MediGreen began operating in 2020, around 2,000 patients have passed through the Bentleigh clinic. More than nine in ten initial consultations take place in person before patients move to telehealth, and the business expects comparable figures at Carnegie once it is fully established.
"A doctor wants to see and get to know a patient and for patients it's far better to see a doctor and talk face to face," Rostov said. "They are likely to be more open about their medical situation, and why they need cannabis."
Miller added: "The one thing wrong with telehealth is that doctors can miss out on so much information as the patient walks around and comes into your room. A lot of that visual is lost and, when you don't have that visual, the care is not as good."
Although the pharmacy and clinic share a building, both owners were clear that patients retain full choice over where their medication is dispensed.
When asked whether a third location might be on the cards, Rostov said: "Never say never. This project took a little longer than we expected, but it's given us good knowledge of what needs to be done and what regulations need to be fulfilled. As the operation gets up and running and producing income, we'll start thinking about the future."
