FOI-03965

##Request _Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and building on your previously published responses on cannabis-based medicinal products (CBPMs), please provide, for the period January 2019 to the most recent month available:_ _The number of CBPM items dispensed in the community per month, in total and — so far as the data allows — split by product formulation (dried flower vs oil/other)._ _Where held, a breakdown of dispensed items by THC-potency band._ _Where held, the distribution of items by prescriber, so that the share attributable to the highest-volume prescribers (e.g. top 1, 5, 10, 20, 50) can be seen, consistent with figures you have released previously._ _Any data you hold linking dispensed CBPMs to the prescribing clinic or organisation._ _Total annual spend/reimbursement associated with these items, if held._ _If any part exceeds the cost limit, please treat the parts as severable and answer what you can, and advise how I might refine the remainder. Please supply machine-readable data (CSV/Excel) where possible._ On 26 July 2026 you clarified your request as follows: _Thank you for your email regarding FOI-03965, and for flagging the formatting issue — you are quite right that stray numbering was introduced in transmission. I can confirm there are no omitted questions: the five requests you have listed are the complete and only requests I wish you to consider. For the avoidance of doubt, they are, for the period January 2019 to the most recent month available:_ _Q1 — The number of CBPM items dispensed in the community per month, in total and, so far as the data allows, split by product formulation (dried flower vs oil/other)._ _Q2 — Where held, a breakdown of dispensed items by THC-potency band._ _Q3 — Where held, the distribution of items by prescriber, so that the share attributable to the highest-volume prescribers (e.g. top 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 prescribers) can be seen, consistent with figures you have released previously._ _Q4 — Any data you hold linking dispensed CBPMs to the prescribing clinic or organisation._ _Q5 — Total annual spend/reimbursement associated with these items, if held._ _If any individual part exceeds the cost limit, please treat the parts as severable and answer what you can, and advise how I might refine the remainder. Machine-readable data (CSV/Excel) would be much appreciated where possible._ ##Response I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached. There are four types of community dispensing of CBPM items that NHSBSA holds data on: • NHS prescribing of licensed products • NHS prescribing of unlicensed products dispensed in England • Private prescribing of licensed products submitted from private controlled drugs accounts in England • Private prescribing of unlicensed products submitted from private controlled drugs accounts in England The data for these is all held and processed in slightly different ways. __Q1 — The number of CBPM items dispensed in the community per month, in total and, so far as the data allows, split by product formulation (dried flower vs oil/other).__ __Q2 — Where held, a breakdown of dispensed items by THC-potency band.__ __2A. Private prescribing unlicenced products__ Please see the datasets attached named as follows: __FOI_03965_P1__- relates to presentations from 2019-2023. __FOI_03965_P2__- relates to presentations from 2024. __FOI_03965_P3__- relates to presentations from 2025-2026. In May 2025, the NHSBSA changed the way it records cannabis prescribing to individually capture THC, CBD and Presentation (if known) within different columns, rather than one. Therefore, data within all parts of this FOI features prescribing that was recorded using the two different methods. In some cases, prescriptions dispensed prior to May 2025 were not submitted to the NHSBSA until after the change in processing. In those cases, the data has been captured using the new method of recording THC (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), CBD (Cannabidiol) and Presentation within separate columns. This includes data by month, product and strength. The latest file covers the latest data held and available for reporting at the time this FOI was received (May 2026). These datasets provide a breakdown of private unlicensed cannabis items prescribed, including the number of items prescribed for each product, aggregated by the recorded strength and volume of each product. The unlicensed cannabis data held by the NHSBSA is manually recorded from often handwritten prescriptions, and therefore there is no standardised naming convention for the product names, strength or volume listed within this data. This may lead to duplication of some product names, strength or volume depending on variations within how the data was prescribed and/or then recorded. In some cases, there is no strength or volume for the product prescribed within the data. As this dataset is manually maintained, users are advised that there will be data quality issues and manual errors within the data. Data dictionary titled FOI_03965_DATA_DICTIONARY covers this dataset. __2B. Private prescribing licenced products__ See Dataset FOI-03965_PRIVATE_LICENSED.csv This data has been submitted to NHSBSA from private controlled drugs accounts and processed as part of NHSBSAs standard prescription processing. The items were matched to licensedproducts within the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) and all data represents information captured from the form during processing and ultimately stored in the NHSBSA data warehouse. __Data source__: NHSBSA ePACT2 records of private controlled drug submissions. It includes submissions from private controlled drug accounts for dispensing organisations in England. The data excludes: • items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification. • prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in Prisons, Hospitals • items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser. __Time period__ Data has been provided by month from January 2019 to May 2026. The latest items of this type were received in September 2025, as this is not frequently prescribed. These are the earliest and latest months for which submissions are currently available. __Products__ Prescriptions have been limited to products included within the following British National Formulary (BNF) Chemical substances: 0406000R0 Nabilone 0408010AM Cannabidiol 1002020Y0 Dronabinol/cannabidiol FOI_03965_PRIVATE_LICENSED_Data_Dictionary covers this dataset. Please see the datasets referred to in response to question 1. The strength is usually included as either “strength”, “thc strength” or as part of the product name, presentation name, BNF presentation or generic equivalent BNF presentation depending on the source. In some cases, it may not be possible to determine a strength for the product based on the information that we capture and hold. __2C. NHS Licenced__ Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. Data for NHS Licenced prescriptions is routinely published at the following links: __2019 to 2020__ https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/prescription-data/dispensing-data/prescription-cost-analysis-pca-data __2021 to May 2026__ https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/prescription-cost-analysis-pca-monthly-data __2D. NHS Unlicenced__ Please be aware that I have decided not to release information NHS unlicenced prescribing of CMBPs. This is because the patients could be identified, when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available, such as media coverage about cannabis prescribing and the small number of people receiving these drugs. This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act. This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as: a) it is not fair to disclose patients personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress. b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the patients. Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40 __Breach of Patient confidentiality__ Please note that the identification of patients is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. A patient who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA or yourself for the disclosure of the confidential information. The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the Freedom of Information Act. Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41 __Q3 — Where held, the distribution of items by prescriber, so that the share attributable to the highest-volume prescribers (e.g. top 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 prescribers) can be seen, consistent with figures you have released previously.__ See Dataset FOI_03965_PSEUDO.csv The previous data release from which such rankings were derived was FOI-03587. This response included pseudonymised prescriber level data. We don’t hold the rankings where these were calculated by third parties using that data. To be consistent with previous FOIs – specifically FOI-03587 - on this topic this response has been limited to private prescribing of unlicensed products submitted from private controlled drugs accounts in England, and we have provided a consistent dataset. FOI_03965_PSEUDO_Data_Dictionary covers this dataset. __Q4 — Any data you hold linking dispensed CBPMs to the prescribing clinic or organisation.__ The NHSBSA does not hold clinic or organisation names for private prescribing. __Q5 — Total annual spend/reimbursement associated with these items, if held.__ For NHS licenced prescribing, this information is reasonably available as outlined in the above answer to questions 1 and 2. Information on costs for private prescriptions are not held. Private prescribing data is captured and processed for information purposes only and does not inform any payment processes. The NHSBSA does not reimburse prices to pharmacies for private prescriptions, and therefore we do not know the cost. __Data Queries__ Please contact [email protected] ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data. __Reusing the data and copyright__ If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact [email protected] . This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented. The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “ NHSBSA ePACT2 records of private controlled drug submissions, NHSBSA Copyright 2026”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence. Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.