FOI-03941

##Request You asked us: _Please provide the total number of private prescriptions of unlicensed cannabis medicines prescribed in 2025 and in 2026 thus far (01/07/26)_ _Please provide the total number of private prescriptions of licensed cannabis medicines prescribed in 2018- 2026 thus far (01/07/26), broken down by year._ Requested date range: 1/1/2018 – 1/7/2026 The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 2 July 2026. We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. ##Our response ##Part 1: Please provide the total number of private prescriptions of unlicensed cannabis medicines prescribed in 2025 and in 2026 thus far (01/07/26) I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data. Item count for unlicensed private cannabis prescribing, aggregated by product name, strength (THC and CBP), presentation and volume. NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for Pharmacy Contractors, Appliance Contractors, Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration with information then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors in England for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings (other arrangements are in place for making payments to Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration). This involves processing over 1 billion prescription items and payments totalling over £9 billion each year. The information gathered from this process is then used to provide information on costs and trends in prescribing in England and Wales to over 25,000 registered NHS and Department of Health and Social Care users. Private prescribing data is captured and processed for information purposes only and does not inform any payment processes. ###Data Source When prescriptions are processed by NHSBSA data capture, prescriptions sometimes contain prescribing of medicines that were not populated on the NHSBSA drug database at the time. This type of order will be captured as an ‘unspecified drug.’ Data for prescribing of unlicensed cannabis-based medicines has been taken from data captured as unspecified prescribing. Unlicensed cannabis-based medicines are identified by an additional review process which occurs after the prescriptions have been processed. The items identified by this review are reported against the date that the prescription was written and not necessarily when they were submitted. Therefore, these figures may be subject to change if prescriptions are submitted to the NHSBSA in later months. ###This dataset This dataset shows 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. Due to the size of the datasets involved, this data is presented in three parts; FOI_03941_P1_1- relates to presentations from 2019-2023. FOI_03941_P1_2- relates to presentations from 2024. FOI_03941_P1_3- 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, CBD and Presentation within separate columns. ###Time Period January 2019-February 2026, aggregated by month. Please note that these are the earliest and latest months for which submissions are currently held. ###Dataset This dataset shows the number of items prescribed for private unlicensed cannabis. ###Organisation Data Data for private unlicensed prescriptions is limited to prescriptions dispensed in England. ###Items Show the number of times a product appears on a prescription form, not the quantity prescribed. ##Part 2: Please provide the total number of private prescriptions of licensed cannabis medicines prescribed in 2018- 2026 thus far (01/07/26), broken down by year. I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data. Item count for private licensed cannabis prescribing ###Data source Data in ePACT2 is sourced from the NHSBSA Data Warehouse and is derived from products prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the community. The data captured from prescription processing is used to calculate reimbursement and remuneration. It includes items prescribed in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey/Alderney, Jersey and Isle of Man which have been dispensed in the community in England. English prescribing that has been dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Guernsey/Alderney, Jersey and Isle of Man is also included. The data excludes: * Items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification. * Prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in Prisons, Hospitals and Private prescriptions. * Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser. Private prescribing data is captured and processed for information purposes only and does not inform any payment processes. ###Time period Data has been provided by calendar year from November 2018 to April 2026. These are the earliest and latest months for which submissions are currently available. ###Dataset This dataset shows the number of items prescribed for private licensed cannabis. ###Organisation data Data for private licensed prescriptions is limited to prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in England. ###Items Show the number of times a product appears on a prescription form, not the quantity prescribed. ##Data Queries Please contact 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 . 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: Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “ePACT2, 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.