Nearly two million. Between June 2025 and May 2026, 1,967,268 unlicensed cannabis items were issued on private prescription in England, according to NHS Business Services Authority data analysed by the Press Association. That figure is almost three times the 659,293 items dispensed in 2024. It matters because it shows how patients are actually getting medical cannabis in the UK. They are paying privately, because the National Health Service (NHS) route remains almost completely closed.
Why Private Prescriptions Dominate UK Medical Cannabis
Medical cannabis has been legal to prescribe in the UK since November 2018. Patients can access it in two ways. The first is through the NHS, the publicly funded health service. The second is through private clinics, where a specialist doctor writes a private prescription, meaning a prescription the patient pays for directly instead of receiving it through public funding.
On paper, both doors are open. In practice, only one of them is. The NHS itself is blunt about it:
"Very few people in England are likely to get an NHS prescription for medical cannabis."
As of late 2025, only six patients had received NHS prescriptions for full-spectrum cannabis products, which are products that contain the plant's broad range of cannabinoids and terpenes, including THC. That is six patients after seven years of legal prescribing. The outcome was predictable. Patients who want treatment have moved to private clinics, and the private market has grown accordingly.
The Numbers: Year-on-Year Growth in England
The figures come from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), a body within the Department of Health and Social Care responsible for providing platforms and services that support the priorities of the NHS, Government and local health economies. Its data counts how many times privately dispensed unlicensed cannabis items appeared on prescriptions in England. These are cannabis products without a UK marketing authorisation, which doctors may still prescribe on their own clinical responsibility.
| Period | Private unlicensed cannabis items (England) | Change vs. previous period |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 282,920 | — |
| 2024 | 659,293 | +133% |
| June 2025 – May 2026 | 1,967,268 | roughly +198% |
The most recent period runs June to May rather than January to December, so the comparison is not perfectly like-for-like. The trend is still clear. Private dispensing has grown almost sevenfold in about three years. No plateau. No slowdown.
What Patients Are Being Prescribed
The product breakdown shows a lot about patient preference. Of the nearly two million unlicensed cannabis items privately dispensed in England between June 2025 and May 2026, three-quarters were cannabis flower. Cannabis flower is the dried bud of the female cannabis plant, usually vaporised for medical use.
The remaining quarter was split across other formats:
- Liquid vape cartridges: pre-filled cannabis extract for use in a vaporiser device
- Oils and drops: extracts taken under the tongue or swallowed, giving a slower and longer-lasting effect
- Gummies: edible, pre-dosed products
The dominance of flower is significant. When patients and their doctors are free to choose, they lean heavily towards whole-plant material and its full profile of cannabinoids and terpenes. Isolated or highly processed formats are chosen far less often. That makes the near-absence of full-spectrum products on the NHS even harder to justify, because the formats patients want most are the ones the public system almost never prescribes.
Government Warnings and the NHS Access Gap
The NHSBSA data was released as part of an ongoing effort by members of the UK government to warn patients about private prescriptions and unlicensed medical cannabis products. On its own, caution about patient safety is reasonable. The context matters, though.
The rise in private prescribing is a direct result of the continued failings of the UK's regulated medical cannabis programme. Patients did not leave the NHS out of preference. Six full-spectrum NHS prescriptions in seven years left them with nowhere else to go. Warning patients away from private clinics without opening a workable public route offers them nothing in its place.
We will say it plainly. Concern that comes without meaningful reform of NHS access looks less like policy and more like performative messaging. Nearly two million private items in a single year is a clear measure of unmet patient need, and it should not be read as a market that has spun out of control. The nation's suffering patients deserve a regulated system that actually works.
Frequently asked questions
How many private medical cannabis items were prescribed in England in 2025/26?
NHS Business Services Authority data shows that 1,967,268 unlicensed cannabis items were dispensed on private prescription in England between June 2025 and May 2026. That is close to three times the 659,293 items recorded in 2024 and almost seven times the 282,920 items recorded in 2023.
Can you get medical cannabis on the NHS in the UK?
Technically, yes. Prescribing has been legal since November 2018, but access is extremely limited. The NHS states that very few people in England are likely to receive an NHS prescription. By late 2025, only six patients had been prescribed full-spectrum cannabis products through the NHS, which is why most patients now use private clinics.
What does "unlicensed cannabis medicine" mean in the UK?
An unlicensed cannabis medicine is a cannabis-based product that has no UK marketing authorisation. Specialist doctors can still prescribe it legally on their own clinical responsibility. Most privately prescribed cannabis in the UK, including dried flower, oils and vape cartridges, falls into this category rather than being a fully licensed pharmaceutical product.
Which medical cannabis products are prescribed most often in the UK?
Cannabis flower dominates. Around three-quarters of the privately dispensed unlicensed cannabis items in England during 2025/26 were dried flower, usually vaporised. The remaining quarter was made up of liquid vape cartridges, oils, drops and gummies. This suggests patients and prescribers strongly favour whole-plant material over processed formats.
Why are private medical cannabis prescriptions rising so quickly?
The main driver is the lack of NHS access. Medical cannabis has been legal to prescribe for years, yet the public system rarely issues prescriptions, especially for full-spectrum products. Patients seeking treatment have turned to private clinics instead. Dispensing rose from 282,920 items in 2023 to nearly two million in 2025/26.
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