Australian medicinal cannabis sales declined by 28.5% in the second half of 2025 compared to the first half of the year, according to new data published by the Penington Institute in April 2026, marking the first significant drop in sales recorded since the country's medicinal cannabis framework was established in 2016.
The data, obtained by the Penington Institute from Australia's Department of Health, Disability and Ageing via a freedom of information request, shows sales peaked at 3.72 million units in the second half of 2024 and held at 3.70 million units in the first half of 2025 before falling to 2.65 million units in the second half of the year. The decline follows a period of particularly sharp growth in late 2023 and 2024 that drew increasing scrutiny from regulators and medical bodies over the prescribing practices driving it.
The Penington Institute attributes the reversal primarily to a stepped-up enforcement campaign that has unfolded across multiple regulatory fronts since 2023. The Therapeutic Goods Administration designated medicinal cannabis importation, advertising and supply as a compliance priority area in 2023, subsequently issuing millions of dollars in fines to dozens of companies for non-compliance. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency published new clinical guidance for prescribers in July 2025 and, by mid-2025, had taken enforcement action against more than 50 medical practitioners, with further investigations ongoing. Ahpra also issued explicit warnings that healthcare practitioners were on notice to prioritise patient wellbeing over profit.
The enforcement push came in response to documented concerns about commercially driven high-volume prescribing, with some clinics found to have conducted extremely brief clinical consultations, unlawfully advertised medicinal cannabis to the public, failed to check real-time prescription monitoring systems, and operated closed-loop business models in which companies owning medicinal cannabis brands also ran the clinics prescribing their products.
A broader TGA review of the patient access framework remains ongoing. As of early April 2026, no reform recommendations have been announced. The Penington Institute's report cautions against broad restrictions on patient access, pointing to the therapeutic benefits the medicine provides for a substantial number of Australian patients, the absence of clear evidence linking medicinal cannabis use to significant public health harms, and the presence of a robust illicit market that would likely absorb patients unable to access legal pathways if access were restricted.
The report also flags product compliance testing as an area where existing rules are not being consistently applied. Australian quality standards cover all medicinal cannabis products, but the TGA does not verify compliance before products reach patients, conducting only limited, risk-based post-market testing, the results of which are not published. The issue is particularly relevant given that imported products accounted for nearly two-thirds of flower volume sold in Australia in 2024, with some countries of origin maintaining lower regulatory standards than Australia. In April 2024, the TGA confirmed it had conducted no tests on imported products in the previous 12 months.
The Penington Institute's full report, Medicinal Cannabis Sales and Regulatory Enforcement, can be viewed here
