With the number of medicinal marijuana users ballooning in Canada, two new clinics specializing in pot prescriptions have opened in London.

The recent arrival of Ready To Go Clinic on Richmond Street and Cannabinoid Medical Clinic on Thompson Road brings the number of businesses that help patients obtain medicinal marijuana licences to three in London.

The tally of registered Canadian medical marijuana users reached 98,460 as of September, up from 75,166 just three months earlier, according to the latest numbers from Health Canada.

But with many doctors unwilling to prescribe marijuana — despite its widespread use to treat everything from chronic pain to insomnia — dozens of clinics have popped up across the country to fill the void.

“It’s mind-boggling now to think that the stigma is still there and so many physicians are against it,” Ready to Go founder and physician Mike Hart said of medical marijuana, something he’s prescribed for the past three years.

“To me, it’s just absolutely, completely illogical that doctors are still prescribing opioids over cannabis for chronic pain.”

Patients at Hart’s Richmond Row clinic — he chose the location because of its visibility — are given an initial assessment. If Hart prescribes medical marijuana, the patient is paired with an on-site health-care professional who educates them on the effects of cannabis, selecting the best strain and customizing a treatment plan.

“There’s no fees. Zero,” Hart said of his clinic’s services that are covered by OHIP.

All medicinal marijuana users must buy their product from one of 41 government-approved producers. Under new rules rolled out last year, they also may apply to grow their own supply or designate someone else to do it for them.

Critics say licensed marijuana producers frequently run out of stock and take too long to deliver product, forcing many medicinal users to turn to illegal dispensaries to get their medicine.

The head of a marijuana business association says patients of clinics like the two that recently opened in London can’t meet their needs by buying from the problem-plagued licensed producers.

“We are dealing with a marketplace that has an incredibly restricted supply right now,” said Ian Dawkins, president of the Cannabis Commerce Association of Canada, a national trade association that represents dispensaries and other marijuana-related businesses.

“Nobody who goes into these clinics is going to find that the cannabis system works for them, as we currently have it.”

Hart said the licensed-producer system isn’t perfect but it’s better than buying marijuana from the street or dispensaries, where the product isn’t tested.

“It would be wonderful if all these licensed producers didn’t run out of medication and run out of strains,” he said.

“That’s just something that we have to deal with.”

No one from the Cannabinoid Medical Clinic, part of a Canada-wide chain, could be reached for comment. An employee at the medical centre where the clinic leases space said nobody was in the office on Tuesday.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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Where to go for pot script

Ready to Go Clinic

Address: 642 Richmond St.

Opened: Jan. 24

Locations: 1

Cannabinoid Medical Clinic

Address: 130 Thompson Rd.

Opened: March 30

Locations: 15

Canadian Cannabis Clinics

Address: 279 Wharncliffe Rd. N

Opened: June 2015

Locations: 19