Development of the Medical Marijuana Industry in Poland 2026 - Report

The Polish medical marijuana market is often described with numbers that no one officially publishes. The Ministry of Health stated directly that since hemp flower is not covered by reimbursement, the ministry has no tools to analyze the number of prescriptions issued for it (Pharmacy Market, 2020). The hard data that can be opened and read concern the volume of imports and the number of prescriptions issued in the e-prescription system. These define the boundary of this report, and everything outside of it has been removed. Below you will find the legal status applicable in 2026 along with links to acts in the ELI register, a series of import data from the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector, available prescription numbers, and a description of the rule that from November 2024 determines how a patient receives a prescription.

KEY INFORMATION
- Medical marijuana has been legal in Poland since November 1, 2017 (act of July 7, 2017, Dz.U. 2017 item 1458).
- From November 7, 2024, a prescription can only be issued after a personal examination of the patient; teleconsultation is not sufficient.
- All raw material comes from imports: 14 kg in 2017 compared to 7.8 tons in 2024 (GIF).
- Hemp flower is not reimbursed; the patient bears the full cost of therapy.
- Cultivation for pharmaceutical raw material can only be conducted by a research institute with a permit from GIF (Article 49a of the act on counteracting drug addiction).

Is medical marijuana legal in Poland and since when?

Yes. Medical marijuana has been legal since November 1, 2017, based on the act of July 7, 2017, amending the act on counteracting drug addiction and the act on drug reimbursement (Dz.U. 2017 item 1458). The ELI register states the status of this act as \”valid\”, so the legal basis has not changed for eight years.

In practice, this means that the hemp flower other than fiber is a pharmaceutical raw material in Poland, not a ready medicinal product. A doctor prescribes it on a prescription marked as Rpw, which includes narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The patient redeems it at a pharmacy that handles such substances, and the pharmacy prepares the raw material according to the prescription.

Polish law does not contain a closed list of conditions under which medical marijuana can be prescribed. The decision is up to the doctor, who assesses the situation of the specific patient and takes professional responsibility for it. In press reports about Polish practice, oncology and neurology, including chronic pain and drug-resistant childhood epilepsy, are most often mentioned (Health PAP Service, 2024).

Before 2017, the path was different and much narrower. A patient could only access a cannabis preparation through a targeted import procedure, which required individual consent from the Minister of Health for a specific person and specific indication. The Ombudsman for Citizens’ Rights pointed to this mechanism among the barriers to access to therapy, as the procedure took time, and the patient’s condition did not wait (Ombudsman for Citizens’ Rights, 2018).

It is worth separating two things that often merge into one in public discourse. The legality of therapy is not the same as its availability. The 2017 act opened the legal path but did not create either a national supply, reimbursement, or a patient register. Each of these three absences is described separately below, as each has a different basis and history. If you are interested in the patient pathway itself, we have described it step by step in the guide on how to become a medical marijuana patient in Poland.

What did the personal examination rule change from November 2024?

From November 7, 2024, a prescription for hemp flower other than fiber and cannabis extracts can only be issued after a personal examination of the patient by a doctor. Teleconsultation is no longer sufficient. An exception is the continuation of treatment with a given preparation when the prescription is issued by a doctor providing services under a primary health care contract (Patient Rights Ombudsman, 2024).

This rule does not apply only to cannabis. It also includes fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, and cannabis resin, which are substances with addictive effects. The goal was to limit the activities of services issuing e-prescriptions without examination, in just a few minutes and around the clock. The Health PAP Service described this model even before the change in regulations, quoting advertising slogans about prescriptions \”already in 15 minutes\”.

The effect is visible in the data on prescriptions issued by so-called prescription machines. After November 2024, the numbers dropped, and in March 2025, there was a rebound: 44.3 thousand prescriptions for medical marijuana, 23 percent more than in February. A total of 88 thousand prescriptions were issued for the four substances covered by the rule, 15 percent more month on month (Health Market, 2025, according to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and the e-Health Center).

Data from prescription machines do not describe the entire market, as some prescriptions are issued in offices and hospitals. However, they show the direction: the channel that drove the strongest growth before November 2024 has been narrowed, yet it has not disappeared. The scope of the exception is narrower than its common summary suggests. Remote continuation is only available when the prescription is issued by a doctor with a primary health care contract, so a patient being treated in a private cannabis clinic still has to return for a visit.

How many prescriptions for medical marijuana are issued in Poland?

The publicly available data series is short and comes from the e-prescription system. In 2019, about 4 thousand prescriptions were issued, and sales amounted to 26 kg of flower. In 2023, there were already 313 thousand prescriptions, and sales exceeded 2.5 tons. The first quarter of 2024 alone brought 115 thousand prescriptions for over a ton of raw material (Health PAP Service, 2024).

Three caveats determine how these numbers should be read. First, we are talking about prescriptions issued, not redeemed at the pharmacy. Second, one person in chronic therapy receives several or even a dozen prescriptions over the course of a year, so simply dividing prescriptions by patients gives a random result. Third, the data covers the period before the change in prescription issuance rules that came into effect in November 2024.

The scale of change between 2019 and 2023 is still clear: the number of prescriptions increased nearly eightyfold, and the sales volume nearly a hundredfold. It is worth remembering from what level this growth started. Twenty-six kilograms per year is the amount that an average-sized hospital pharmacy dispenses in a few weeks with other prescription raw materials.

Comparing the first quarter of 2024 with the entire year of 2023 says more than percentages. Three months brought over a third of the number of prescriptions from the entire previous year, which means that the growth rate did not slow down until the change in regulations in the fall of 2024. Only this change interrupted the continuity of the series and made simple extrapolation of the trend into the following years meaningless.

Where does the flower used in Polish pharmacies come from?

Entirely from imports. The Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector states this in one sentence: the hemp flower other than fiber used for medical purposes comes entirely from imports (Health Market, 2025, according to GIF). There is no domestic production on a commercial scale.

The GIF report shows the volume imported in subsequent years. In 2017, the year the act came into force, it was about 14 kg. In 2024, imports reached 7.8 tons, over 73 percent more than the previous year.

What does this table not include? A breakdown by country of origin. The GIF report provides total volume, so it does not present the percentage shares of individual suppliers, even though they circulate in industry journalism. If you are looking for information about specific preparations available in pharmacies, we discuss the current list separately in the post about what varieties of medical marijuana are available in Poland.

The volume of imports is a measure of supply, not consumption. The raw material imported in a given year may remain in the warehouse of a wholesaler or pharmacy even in the following year, and some batches do not pass quality control and do not enter circulation at all. The import curve shows the direction and order of magnitude well, but it does not replace sales data, which are not centrally collected for non-reimbursed raw materials.

The complete dependence on imports has one practical consequence, which patients often mention. A break in supply from a foreign manufacturer directly translates into a lack of a specific variety in a Polish pharmacy, and a substitute does not always have a similar profile. The Ministry of Health has previously admitted that shortages of pharmaceutical raw materials cannot always be predicted, as they depend on delays in deliveries and production problems at the manufacturer.

How does the flower get from foreign cultivation to Polish pharmacies?

Through a marketing authorization issued by the President of the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products. The flower does not enter the Polish market as a ready-made medicine, but as a pharmaceutical raw material for preparing prescription medicines in the form of hemp flower, extract, pharmaceutical tincture, or other extract from hemp other than fiber.

The scale of this procedure was small at the start. By the end of March 2019, nine applications for the marketing authorization of such raw material had been submitted to the Registration Office (Pharmacy Market, 2019). Each application concerns a specific raw material from a specific manufacturer, so the number of varieties available in pharmacies directly depends on the number of permits issued.

Further, the chain looks like it does for other narcotic substances. The raw material goes to a pharmacy that handles such substances, the pharmacist prepares a prescription medicine from it according to the Rpw prescription, and the patient receives the finished form. The name of the raw material is not arbitrary. The communication from the President of the Registration Office dated July 16, 2019, stipulated that the name must include a Latin designation, such as Cannabis flos, along with the declared cannabinoid content, and fanciful names will not be accepted (Pharmacy Market, 2019).

This arrangement explains why a change in manufacturer is noticeable for the patient. The withdrawal of one permit or a break in supply does not automatically mean that the raw material can be replaced by another, as the doctor must write a new prescription for a variety that has its own permit and profile. The pharmacy does not have the freedom to substitute, as it knows from ready-made medicines in the same group.

Is medical marijuana reimbursed?

No. Hemp flower is not on the list of reimbursed medicines, so the patient bears the full cost of the raw material and the cost of medical visits. This state has been in place since the beginning, that is, since 2017, and has not been changed by any subsequent amendments.

The basis for the refusal was the negative assessment of the Agency for Health Technology Assessment. The Ombudsman for Citizens’ Rights described this issue as early as 2018: the agency then recommended not to finance cannabis preparations from public funds, citing insufficient scientific evidence for drug-resistant epilepsy, chronic pain, and nausea after chemotherapy (Ombudsman for Citizens’ Rights, 2018).

The Ombudsman formulated a reservation that remains relevant: the cost of such therapy is so high that without reimbursement, the patient cannot actually start treatment. This is not a problem of a single pharmacy’s price list, but of the system’s structure. Chronic therapy without reimbursement selects patients based on their financial resources, not medical indications.

It is worth distinguishing raw material from ready-made medicine, as these two things are constantly mixed in the discussion about reimbursement. In the situation described by the Ombudsman for Citizens’ Rights, the only cannabis-based medicinal product approved for circulation in Poland as a ready-made medicine was Sativex, and it was he, not the prescription raw material, who had an open path to the reimbursement list. Hemp flower remains a pharmaceutical raw material and has no such path.

There are exceptions that are decided individually. The Ombudsman for Citizens’ Rights described the case of a patient who obtained consent for reimbursement of a cannabis-based preparation after a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court. However, this path requires court proceedings and is not a systemic solution. This report does not provide specific amounts per gram of raw material, as there is no public price list from which they could be read.

Why do we not know the exact number of patients in Poland?

Because such a register does not exist. The Ministry of Health responded directly that due to the lack of reimbursement, it has no tools to analyze the number of prescriptions issued for this raw material (Pharmacy Market, 2020). Reimbursement is the mechanism in the Polish system that forces reporting.

The consequence is that every number of patients reported in the media is an estimate, not a reading from a register. Estimates are usually created by dividing the number of prescriptions or sales volume by an assumed average monthly dose. The result therefore depends on the assumption made, not on measurement, and two studies using the same source data can differ by a factor of two.

Distinguishing three concepts organizes the rest of the discussion. An issued prescription is a record in the e-prescription system. A redeemed prescription is the issuance of raw material at the pharmacy, which is not centrally counted for non-reimbursed products. A patient is a person who has received raw material at least once during a given period. Only the first of these three quantities is publicly available.

Additionally, there is a variable that estimates usually ignore: the average dose. An oncology patient in the terminal phase of the disease and a patient with chronic pain in stable therapy consume quantities that differ several times in a month. When dividing sales volume by the assumed dose, this difference directly affects the result and determines whether from the same tons it will emerge that there are one hundred or three hundred thousand people.

Therefore, in this report, you will not find a statement about \”over three hundred thousand Polish patients\” or any similar number. Not because the market is small, but because there is no document from which it could be read. More broadly about how the lack of transparency affects the quality of cannabis products available outside the pharmacy circuit, we write in the text about regulation of CBD products in Poland.

Who can grow hemp for pharmaceutical raw material in Poland?

Only a research institute supervised by the minister responsible for agriculture, after obtaining a permit from the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector. This is determined by Article 49a, paragraph 1 of the act on counteracting drug addiction, added by the act of March 24, 2022 (Dz.U. 2022 item 763), which came into force on May 7, 2022.

This solution is narrow by design. An entrepreneur cannot apply for such a permit independently, as the act specifies the circle of entities entitled by their legal status. The permit is issued for a specified period, not exceeding five years, and the application must describe the area and address of cultivation and the security of the facility.

The technical conditions from paragraph 9 show why launching such cultivation is not an agricultural undertaking. The institute must conduct cultivation in a properly secured place, mark the plants with an RFID system that allows reading their data, employ a qualified person with at least two years of experience with a holder of a permit to manufacture medicinal products, and have its own laboratory to assess the quality of the harvest.

The act has existed since 2022, and imports have continued to grow during this time: from 1.65 tons in 2022 to 7.8 tons in 2024. This is the simplest test of how well this path has responded to market demand.

The reason lies not only in the regulations. Cultivation that meets the requirements of Article 49a requires a facility, personnel with pharmaceutical experience, and its own analytical background, meaning investments of a manufacturing nature, not agricultural. A research institute funded from public funds rarely has such capital, and an entrepreneur who would have it does not fall within the circle of entitled entities. This discrepancy between financial capability and legal entitlement explains the state of domestic production better than any forecast.

How does medical marijuana differ from legal hemp flower?

By the THC content threshold and the method of sale. Medical marijuana is the hemp flower other than fiber, in which the sum of delta-9-THC and tetrahydrocannabinolic acid exceeds 0.3 percent. Hemp flower from the store comes from fiber hemp, where the same sum does not exceed this threshold. The former is issued only with a prescription, while the latter can be purchased without one.

The basis is two definitions from the same act: Article 4 point 5 describes fiber hemp, and Article 4 point 37 describes the hemp flower other than fiber (act on counteracting drug addiction, Dz.U. 2023 item 1939, as amended by the act of March 24, 2022). The current wording came into force on May 7, 2022; previously, the threshold was 0.20 percent.

One detail changes the laboratory test result and is often overlooked. The threshold is calculated as the sum of delta-9-THC and THCA, not just delta-9-THC, and then rounded to one decimal place. A plant with low delta-9-THC but high THCA can therefore exceed the threshold, even though the measurement of delta-9-THC alone would appear innocent.

The history of this threshold is also often misrepresented. Until May 6, 2022, it was 0.20 percent, and the current 0.3 percent was introduced by the act of March 24, 2022 (Dz.U. 2022 item 763). Separately, and independently of national law, the 0.3 percent threshold for varieties eligible for support under the Common Agricultural Policy was introduced by EU regulation 2021/2115, effective from January 1, 2023. The previous regulation 1307/2013 set the threshold at 0.2 percent and was repealed. The Polish threshold corresponds to the EU one in value, but does not derive from it: these are two separate regulations.

This distinction is practically significant when shopping. If you are looking for legal flower without a prescription, you will find it in the hemp flower category, not in the pharmacy. No store product replaces therapy using a prescription preparation.

What numbers does this report not provide and why?

You will not find here a forecast of the value of the Polish market in euros, shares of countries of origin of the raw material, the number of doctors issuing Rpw prescriptions, or the price per gram of flower in pharmacies. Each of these quantities circulates in industry journalism, but none can be read from a public document that could be opened and verified.

This is not pedantry. A market report without indicating the source of each number becomes a collection of someone else’s assumptions, later repeated as fact. A previous version of this text provided, among other things, the market value in 2030 and the structure of imports with accuracy to one percentage point. None of these numbers could be confirmed with the indicated source, so they disappeared along with the sentences that carried them.

The same principle applies to citing organizations. One of the sources cited by the previous version of the text for ten separate claims does not exist under the given name, and the domain indicated does not resolve in the domain name system. A name sounding institutional is not proof that the institution stands behind the number. Verification takes a minute and is worth doing with every market report, including someone else’s.

Where to realistically look for data if you need it for your own analysis? The volume of imports is published by the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector in responses to media inquiries. The number of prescriptions issued in the system is known by the e-Health Center. The legal status can be read in the Journal of Laws through the ELI register, where each act has information about its status and consolidated text.

The picture that remains after this sifting is more modest but verifiable. The market has been growing since 2017 at a rate visible in the volume of imports, relies entirely on foreign supplies, has no reimbursement or patient register, and since November 2024 requires a physical visit from the patient before the first prescription. More about the barriers on the patient side has been gathered in the post about how medical marijuana in Poland looks, progress and barriers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is medical marijuana legal in Poland in 2026?

Yes. The basis is the act of July 7, 2017, amending the act on counteracting drug addiction, published as Dz.U. 2017 item 1458, in force since November 1, 2017. The ELI register states the status of this act as \”valid\”. The raw material is issued only on a prescription marked as Rpw.

Can a prescription for medical marijuana be obtained via teleconsultation?

No, not during the first qualification. From November 7, 2024, a prescription can only be issued after a personal examination of the patient. An exception is the continuation of treatment with a given preparation when the prescription is issued by a doctor providing services under a primary health care contract (Patient Rights Ombudsman, 2024).

Does the National Health Fund reimburse medical marijuana?

No. Hemp flower is not covered by reimbursement, so the patient bears the full cost of the raw material and visits. The Agency for Health Technology Assessment recommended not to finance cannabis preparations from public funds, as described by the Ombudsman for Citizens’ Rights in 2018. Individual exceptions were decided by the courts.

Where does the hemp flower sold in Polish pharmacies come from?

Entirely from imports. The Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector states that the hemp flower other than fiber used for medical purposes comes entirely from abroad. The volume increased from about 14 kg in 2017 to 7.8 tons in 2024, which is over 73 percent year on year.

How many patients in Poland use medical marijuana?

No one knows exactly, as there is no register. The Ministry of Health stated that due to the lack of reimbursement, it has no tools to analyze the number of prescriptions issued for this raw material. Only the number of prescriptions issued is publicly available, for example, 313 thousand in 2023.

Is it legal to grow hemp for pharmaceutical raw material in Poland?

Yes, but the circle of entities is narrow. Article 49a of the act on counteracting drug addiction allows such cultivation only for a research institute supervised by the Minister of Agriculture, after obtaining a permit from the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector issued for a period of up to five years.

This article is for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. The legal status described in the article is valid as of the date of publication: regulations regarding cannabis may change. Before making a decision, consult a lawyer or current legal acts.

Author: Michał Waluk · Published: 2026-05-11 · Updated: 2026-08-10