Medicinal Cannabis Prescriptions Drop After Years of Growth

Medicinal Cannabis Prescriptions Drop After Years of Growth

21 Apr 2026

Experts say this could be a sign that the system is starting to balance out after a long period of rapid growth.

The report found that sales fell by 28.5% in the second half of 2025. Prescriptions had reached a peak of 3.72 million units in late 2024, stayed steady in early 2025, and then dropped to 2.65 million units by the end of the year.

For some time, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has raised concerns about how quickly prescriptions were increasing. This led to action from regulators targeting clinics and doctors prescribing large amounts.

In mid-2025, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency warned prescribers to be more careful. It reminded doctors to treat medicinal cannabis like other controlled medicines and follow strict safety rules.

There were also concerns about patient safety. Reports included cases of people going to emergency departments with cannabis-related psychosis, along with worries about overprescribing and clinics focused only on selling cannabis products.

John Ryan, CEO of the Penington Institute, said the drop marks an important change. He explained it is the first real slowdown in the market and shows that regulators are starting to address poor practices, especially high-volume prescribing driven by profit.

He added that targeted action helps reduce misuse without affecting patients who genuinely need the treatment.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has also started a major review of medicinal cannabis rules in Australia, but the results of that review have not yet been released.

https://www1.racgp.org.au/

Source: Penington Institute

 
 
 

Categories

Popular Posts

Recent Posts

Tags