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).

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