Cannabis hospitalisations up 49% in a decade, new study shows

Kampus Production/Pexels Doctors have raised growing concerns about rising rates of cannabis-related psychosis .

Our new ten-year study shows those concerns are well founded.

We looked at almost 40,000 cannabis-related hospital admissions in Victoria between 2013 and 2023.

Over that time, cases where cannabis was the main reason someone ended up in hospital increased by 49%.

Psychotic disorder (commonly called psychosis) was the leading cause.

What we did and what we found We examined hospital records for 39,565 cannabis-related hospital admissions in Victoria over the ten-year period.

Admissions peaked during the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Cannabis-related psychosis was the main driver across the decade, accounting for 40.1% of hospitalisations where cannabis was the main reason.

Poisoning made up less than 12% of cases.

These weren’t quick visits.

Most patients (68%) stayed in hospital for longer than 24 hours, with the average stay lasting a week for all cases involving cannabis.

This suggests these cases were serious.

More than 1,500 people required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU).

Males aged 15–24 still represent the largest total group hospitalised.