More than 700,000 medicinal cannabis approvals have been issued in Australia since the country began allowing regulated access in 2016.
Medicinal cannabis in Australia includes products like oils, capsules, dried flower for vaping, sprays, and gummies. Patients must receive approval to use these products from a licensed physician.
A significant portion of the nation’s medical cannabis approvals—336k, or nearly half—have been for chronic non-cancer pain, a condition that affects roughly one in five Australians aged 45 and older. Around 28% of the approvals —nearly 200,000 in total— were for anxiety.
Rounding out the top five of the most common conditions receiving approval for medical cannabis use in Australia is sleep disorder, PTSD, and depression.
In terms of consumption methods, there have been over 281,000 approvals for cannabis in oral liquid form (tincture, for example), over 233,000 for dried cannabis, and a combined 180,000 for cannabis oil, candies, capsules, and sprays.
More detailed information of Australia’s medical cannabis program can be found by clicking here.
