FOI-03860

Request   You asked us:   Could you please provide an update on the number of times each named unlicensed cannabis based medicinal product (CBMP) was prescribed privately since July 2025? - As July 2025 is the most recent month of data published.    A CSV file in the same format as FOI-03623 part 2 would be enough. We understand the output will be a raw dataset.   The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 27 May 2026   We have handled your request unde r the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.   Our response   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), 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.   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 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.   Time Period    August 2025 - November 2025 aggregated (latest month submissions we hold).   Please note as this is based on the submission months a late/early submission may mean that a small number of prescribing prior/post these dates will be included in the data.   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.   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: “ CBPM   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.