The prevalence and correlates of self-reported cannabis use for medicinal, dual and recreational motives in Australia: findings from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022/2023

Dawson, D., Chan, G., Stjepanović, D., Lorenzetti, V., Hall, W. D., & Leung, J. (2025). The prevalence and correlates of self‐reported cannabis use for medicinal, dual and recreational motives in Australia: Findings from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022/2023. Drug and Alcohol Review, 44(5), 1351–1364. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.14062

Following her Opinion piece on the risk of cannabis use disorders from medicinal cannabis use, NCYSUR PhD student Ms Danielle Dawson led a population level study based on data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022/23, finding that a rising number of Australians who use cannabis obtained by prescription have nuanced motives that can no longer be classified as either medical or recreational.

Dual-use is a complex problem for medicinal cannabis regulators in Australia, as the law defines medicinal cannabis as a medication only to be used as prescribed. Using a medicinal cannabis product as both prescription drug and recreational substance may increase the risk of escalating or disordered use patterns, for example by using more frequently. Prescription of cannabis flower and concentrates high in THC may be related to dual-use cannabis motives, as these products are similar in potency to recreational cannabis obtained illicitly.

A related piece Ms Dawson led for The Conversation for persons concerned about loss of control over cannabis use reported her previous finding that an estimated 25% of medicinal cannabis consumers met criteria for cannabis use disorder, compared with previous research finding an estimated 22% of recreational users met criteria for CUDs.

Read the open access paper in Drug and Alcohol Review.

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