Australia’s thriving medical cannabis industry has continued its blistering levels of growth, seeing the amount of medical cannabis imported grow nearly tenfold in just three years, according to new official data.
In 2024, Australia imported more medical cannabis than Germany, Europe’s largest market, now thought to be worth around €1bn, similarly driven by the explosion of telemedicine prescriptions.
The parallels between the two countries are stark, and Australia is pushing ahead with measures to restrict the loosely regulated and increasingly controversial industry, with the deadline for submissions on a public consultation regarding a crackdown closing today.
As imports and prescription numbers continue to accelerate exponentially, the upcoming reforms are set to have implications for hundreds of businesses and hundreds of thousands of patients in Australia and across the globe.
What do the latest figures tell us about the Australian market?
According to the latest official government data, published last week, total cannabis imports increased from 7,306 kilograms in 2021 to 77,406 kilograms in 2024, representing a 959% rise.
These figures specifically cover the ‘flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant (excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by the tops) from which the resin has not been extracted’.
Year-on-year growth remained consistently high throughout the period, with volumes climbing 241% in 2022, 79% in 2023, and 74% in 2024.
As also seen in Germany and other leading European markets, the Australian market is flooded with Canadian cannabis.
Since 2021, Canada has represented around 80% of the total imports coming into the country.
Growth in Canadian imports has mirrored the growth in the wider market, increasing 970% between 2021 and 2024, and nearly doubling from 35,941kg in 2023 to 62,111kg in 2024.
In the roughly 20% of the market not represented by Canada, a number of emerging markets also saw significant export growth throughout 2024.
South Africa has seen imports spike from just 60kg in 2024, to nearly 5 tons in 2024 (an 8,220% increase), while some of its closest geographic neighbours like Thailand and New Zealand have both seen exports to the country push past 1 ton.
Import trends across other European markets were mixed, with imports from Portugal and North Macedonia seeing sharp declines compared to 2023, but the Czech Republic saw its inaugural import of 2400kg.
Read our latest analysis on the Australian market here
Domestic cultivation spikes, but struggles to sell
According to ODC data, domestic cannabis production has grown steadily since 2021, increasing from 16,700kg in 2021 to 41,328 kg in 2024, a rise of 148% over the three years.
As previously reported, the dominance of cheap and plentiful Canadian imports is a major cause of concern among Australian farmers, with some organisations calling for an import tax similar to the one proposed in Israel earlier this year.
Following minor growth in domestic cultivation in 2023, the amount of cannabis being grown in Australia jumped by 55% (26.6 tons to 41.3 tons) in 2024, signalling a marked upscaling of licensed cultivation and processing in the market, despite the pressure from imports.
While more cannabis is being grown in Australia, figures on domestically held stock levels suggest there is a significant lack of demand for local cannabis.
By the end of 2024, licensed producers were holding more than 38 tonnes of domestically grown cannabis, nearly double the volume on hand a year earlier.
Sources have suggested that this stock buildup is representative of the limitations in the genetic diversity of crops suited to Australia’s southern hemisphere conditions.
Many of the cannabis genetics currently in commercial use were imported from Canada, where strains have been optimised for northern climates.
As a result, producers are left with rising inventories while prescribers continue to favour imported, proven product lines, underscoring the need for greater local research and breeding programmes if Australia is to build a sustainable, competitive domestic supply base.
Prescriptions growth
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) publishes detailed data on medicinal cannabis prescribing through the Special Access Scheme (SAS-B) and Authorised Prescriber (AP) pathways, offering valuable insights into the market rarely seen elsewhere.
Business of Cannabis has analysed the raw dataset of SAS-B approvals from 2016 to September 2025.
The SAS-B scheme allows medical practitioners to prescribe unregistered medicinal cannabis products for individual patients, subject to TGA approval. Categories include CBD-dominant, balanced, and THC-dominant products. The data highlights rapid growth from 2017 onwards, peaking in 2021, followed by a temporary contraction in 2022 and renewed growth in 2024.
The data also shows that prescriptions for medicinal cannabis in Australia have been concentrated around a small number of key clinical indications, with the top ten accounting for the vast majority of approvals between 2016 and 2025 (YTD).
The leading indication throughout this period is chronic pain, which has consistently represented the largest share of approvals and remains the primary driver of high-THC prescribing.
Anxiety has emerged as the second most common indication, reflecting growing acceptance of CBD-dominant products for mental health conditions. Other top indications include sleep disorders, PTSD, and depression, each showing steady growth over the past five years.
The data also highlights distinct product-category preferences by indication. THC-dominant products (Category 5) remain the mainstay of pain management, with high volumes also prescribed for cancer pain and neurological conditions.
In contrast, CBD-dominant products (Category 1) are more commonly used for anxiety and related mental health indications. Balanced and broad-spectrum products occupy a middle ground, with consistent but smaller shares across most conditions. These patterns reflect both clinical considerations and regulatory settings, with prescribers tailoring cannabinoid profiles to specific therapeutic needs.
