UK Medical Cannabis Prescriptions Surge 165% to 1.77 Million; 25%+ High-THC Products Gain Share

By Jelena Martinovic, Featured Writer

In the UK, medical cannabis prescriptions have surged in 2025. According to the revised data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), it’s a165% year-over-year increase to 1,774,669 items. That’s more than 73,605 previously unclassified items.

January 2026 now stands at 150,828 items, nearly double the 80,331 initially reported. February 2026, which was left blank in the earlier response, has also been updated to 78,556 items, as reported by Business of Cannabis.

The Freedom of Information release, FOI-03965, that extended the private prescribing dataset through May 2026, showed that high-THC products are becoming dominant, with those with over 22% THC representing 75% of items in 2025 and 85% so far in 2026.

Products containing 25% THC or more accounted for 53.6% of 2025 items and are on track to represent approximately two-thirds of 2026 volume. According to medical cannabis clinician Professor Mike Barnes, prescriptions exceeding 25% THC or 2g per day should receive peer approval. He recommended that threshold last fall at the Cannabis Health Symposium in London.

The 15%–17% THC range makes up less than 2% of dispensing in 2025, as well as in 2026, according to the NHSBSA’s data.

In the meantime, an ongoing review by the UK’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which seeks to assess whether policy changes for Cannabis-Based Products for Medicinal Use (CBPMs) that took place in 2018 met their intended outcomes, is in progress. The CIC responded to the call for evidence in autumn 2025.

One of the US cannabis operators within the market is Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (TSX: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF), which operates in the UK under Curaleaf International, its direct operating subsidiary and the European division of its business.