The UK medical cannabis market is the second largest in Europe, behind Germany. Some 80,000 Brits currently spend an average of £3600 a year each on treating their conditions with cannabis. Since 2018, the market has grown steadily. However the UK is uniquely primed such that only a few things have to change, not necessarily full legalisation, for the market to open up to explosive growth. So what’s the outlook?
What’s the Current Market Situation?
The total UK medical cannabis market was worth some £250 million in 2024. Although it has been legal across the UK for nearly seven years now, public understanding of the medical cannabis law is still lacking in some respects. And therefore, uptake of it as a treatment is lower than it could be.
It is, by all accounts, already big business. Although the NHS, backed by the policy of the The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence or NICE, has been extremely circumspect in adopting medical cannabis, private clinics are doing brisk trade in treating patients with legal weed.
Private clinic Releaf UK is among the biggest in the market today. Releaf offers a full-spectrum medical cannabis service, from information to consultation, prescription and delivery, all in one platform. All approved by the Care Quality Commission as a healthcare service.
The UK is a Large Producer in the Market
The UK is also a huge producer of legal cannabis. In fact, it is the world’s fifth biggest legal cannabis grower. This should be an obvious advantage for growth in many ways, but currently isn’t.
That’s because, at the moment, huge amounts of production is locked into providing foreign makers of THC or CBD-based pharmaceutical medicines, such as Sativex.
Meaning, somewhat inefficiently, clinics are forced to import tonnes of medical-grade flower rather than distributing domestic product. In fact, the UK currently has some 500 tonnes of cannabis sitting in stock – one of the world’s biggest stockpiles. However, patients only receive about 10 tonnes a year. Much of which is imported.
Import growth seems to have slowed however in 2025, with only around four tonnes imported in the first half of the year. That suggests suppliers are adapting to changing requirements and the growth of the local market.
The UK is in a Prime Position to Grow
On the flipside, the black market is estimated to be worth more than a billion in value. With a substantial number of those users not recreational but illegally self medicating, there is clearly room for the medical market to take patients away from funding criminal enterprises.
Which is not to mention those with legitimate conditions that could be treated by medical cannabis, who currently misunderstand or are unaware of it. Although 52% of British people in one survey said they would support full cannabis legalisation, some polls have shown up to 25% of people aren’t even aware it is medically legal.
Among the 60,000 patients in UK market, the most commonly prescribed is cannabis for pain. Cannabis as a painkiller is well researched, and studies have shown its usefulness in dealing with chronic pain. Other conditions Brits are treating with medical weed right now include:
- Chemotherapy-induced nausea and appetite loss
- Chronic inflammatory pain like arthritis
- Neurological conditions like fibromyalgia
- Sleep disorders and insomnia
- Migraines
Potential Stumbling Blocks Still Remain
However, despite the increasing uptake and the potential for a huge amount of supply to hit market, there are several potential factors that could inhibit growth.
One, there is still a social stigma against cannabis. Although a vast majority of Brits polled as supporting medical weed as an option, 14% of people are set against it – and 14% of people said they didn’t know enough to say.
Another 48% of people oppose wider legalisation strongly. For many people, cannabis still has the stigma of being widely illegal, associated with hippies and slackers and its sometimes offensively strong odour.
However – medical weed is either edible or vaped, by law, and many different people from all walks of life have used it as a treatment while continuing to succeed in what they do.
In terms of being illegal, one survey of the Metropolitan Police in 2024 said that 25% of officers were previously unaware of medical cannabis being legal. Initiatives like cannabis cards are working to change perspectives on that front.
Ultimately though, if the UK is to see a massive uptake in the medical weed market, it will have to come from either the NHS relaxing its guidelines or full legalisation.
Private clinics are doing their best, but they can be quite expensive – both to run and for patients. The NHS’ huge purchasing power and ubiquity of local GPs would almost certainly allow access for many more patients into the market.
Meanwhile, full scale legalisation may, as shown in Germany, change public attitudes enough to bring in even more patients to medical cannabis, who were previously put off by the general illegality and stigma. If either of these things happen, the UK medical cannabis market could see a massive growth period.