Private clinics in Britain issued nearly two million prescriptions for medical cannabis in a single year, official figures from the NHS Business Services Authority show.
A total of 1,967,268 prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis products were dispensed to patients in the 12 months to May. The figure represents a sharp rise from 659,293 prescriptions in the 2024 calendar year and 282,920 in 2023.
Among the items handed out were thousands of prescriptions intended to treat mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Patients were frequently provided with super-strength cannabis strains, imported from abroad, bearing names including Space Cake, Chapel of Love and Banana Sorbet.
Data from the health service quango revealed that some private clinics advertise next-day home delivery for these potent formulations. Certain providers also offer free initial consultations and price discounts on high-potency drugs to individuals receiving state welfare benefits who have been signed off work due to mental health difficulties.
The NHS Business Services Authority is an executive non-departmental public body attached to the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees prescription processing and central data management across the healthcare sector in England. Unlicensed medicines are pharmaceutical products that have not undergone standard British clinical trials to receive formal marketing authorization. Under United Kingdom medical regulations, doctors registered on the General Medical Council specialist register are permitted to prescribe unlicensed products on a named-patient basis when licensed alternatives are deemed unsuitable.
Mental health concerns and high-potency strains
The statistics demonstrate that medical marijuana was routinely prescribed by private providers for a broad spectrum of mental health disorders, including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), mood disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This commercial prescribing occurs despite explicit warnings from the National Health Service that cannabis consumption significantly elevates the risk of severe psychiatric illness.
Official figures show that three-quarters of all prescriptions issued in the 12 months to May were for cannabis flower, which is intended for vaporisation or smoking. The remaining quarter comprised liquid vape cartridges, sublingual oils, oral drops and edible gummies. Specialist pharmacies frequently stock products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive chemical in cannabis, at levels exceeding 30 per cent. Medical experts classify THC concentrations above this threshold as ultra-potent.
Tetrahydrocannabinol is the main psychoactive compound found within the cannabis plant responsible for producing psychological effects. High-potency cannabis with elevated THC concentrations has been linked in medical literature to an increased likelihood of drug-induced psychosis, paranoia and severe dependency. While NHS prescribing is strictly regulated, dozens of private clinics now operate across Britain, taking advantage of statutory provisions to supply the vast majority of medicinal cannabis in the country.
Private clinics typically charge patients an initial consultation fee ranging between £100 and £200, though these charges are sometimes waived for welfare claimants. Product prices start at £39.50 for a 10-gram supply of entry-level cannabis flower and rise to £300 for 30 grams of the highest-priced strains.
Calls for urgent government intervention
The steep surge in private prescriptions has drawn sharp criticism from lawmakers and health officials, with the Labour government accused of failing to control the expanding market. Joe Robertson, a Conservative Member of Parliament who sits on the House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee, warned of potential widespread harm.
"It is concerning that there has been such a sharp jump in unlicensed medical cannabis dispensed privately," Robertson said. "Ministers need to take their heads out of the sand and tackle this issue. There could be genuine harm being caused to thousands of people."
England's Patient Safety Commissioner, Professor Henrietta Hughes, called on health authorities to step in immediately to safeguard the public. "The growth of medicinal cannabis prescribing has outpaced the systems needed to ensure patient safety," Hughes stated.
The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee is a parliamentary body responsible for scrutinising the policy, administration and expenditure of the Department of Health and Social Care. The position of Patient Safety Commissioner was established by Parliament under the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 as an independent watchdog tasked with amplifying patient concerns and ensuring safety across medicines regulation.
A 2018 amendment to UK drug regulations made it legal for medical practitioners to prescribe cannabis-based products for medicinal use. The legislative change followed a high-profile public campaign focused on children suffering from severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy. However, Hughes noted that the 2018 reforms were "made with the intention that a small number of highly specialised doctors would be able to prescribe to a small cohort of patients."
Under current rules, licensed cannabis medicines that do not contain the whole plant can be prescribed on the NHS for a restricted set of conditions: severe pediatric epilepsy, chemotherapy-induced nausea, and muscle spasticity resulting from multiple sclerosis. In contrast, private clinics operate with far greater latitude, giving rise to concerns among experts that lax enforcement has created a pseudo-recreational market. Police forces have also been instructed not to arrest individuals found in possession of cannabis if justifiable grounds exist to believe it is for medicinal use.
Tragic case prompts calls for Oliver's Law
Experts warn that fractured regulatory oversight has left the industry without a single official body taking responsibility for the rapid rise in prescriptions. Critics argue this regulatory gap is placing additional strain on NHS emergency services and police forces dealing with drug-related mental health crises.
The human cost of the rapid expansion was highlighted earlier this year by the family of Oliver Robinson, a 34-year-old former property developer from Bury, Greater Manchester. Robinson took his own life after developing a £1,000-a-month medical cannabis addiction that originated from a single online video consultation with a private clinic.
Robinson had previously struggled with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation, for which he had received NHS treatment, including prescribed antidepressants. After obtaining cannabis online, he entered an 18-month mental health decline that culminated in his death. His brother, Alexander Robinson, and his mother, Susan, are now campaigning for the introduction of "Oliver's Law" to establish stricter statutory controls on the prescribing of medicinal cannabis.
Responding to concerns over the regulation of private clinics, a government spokesman said: "As with any medicine, including unlicensed Cannabis-based products prescribed for medicinal use, patients should follow the advice of their healthcare professional and the information provided with their medication."
