Medicinal cannabis approvals under the Special Access Scheme recorded virtually no growth in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to new data, with Victoria displacing Queensland as the country's top-approving state in June for the second time this year.
The TGA approved 9,700 prescriptions nationally in June, a drop from 11,000 in the previous month but a slight improvement on the same month in 2022.
That brought the cumulative H1 2023 total to 60,378 — only 89 approvals ahead of the equivalent period last year.
The figures do not capture the full picture of cannabis prescribing in Australia, given the significant rise in Authorised Prescribers.
Victoria topped all states in June, with prescribers there receiving 4,420 SAS-B approvals from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), surpassing the previous state record of 4,360 set in March.
Queensland, long considered Australia's dominant cannabis state, fell to second place with 3,460 approvals from 250 prescribers — a steep 27% decline from May's figures.
Victoria's total was generated by 229 prescribers.
This is the second occasion in 2023 that Victoria has outpaced Queensland in SAS-B approvals. March was the first time in four years that Queensland had been pushed into second place.
As with March, there is no clear explanation for what drove the spike in Victorian approvals in June, or what caused Queensland's sudden drop.
New South Wales came in a distant third, recording 1,250 approvals.
Schedule 8 medicines made up 77% of approvals during the month, consistent with previous trends.
Oil was the most commonly prescribed form, accounting for 52% of approvals, while flower made up 35%.
Capsules remained far behind other formats, with the TGA approving just 205 prescriptions — 2% of the monthly total.
Consistent with earlier months, chronic pain (42%), anxiety (33%) and sleep disorders (9%) were the conditions most frequently cited in medicinal cannabis prescriptions.
