2016 to 2024 Saw Increase in Patients Using Medical Cannabis

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 30, 2026 (HealthDay News) — From 2016 to 2024, the number of patients using medical cannabis increased by 425 percent, according to a research letter published online Sept. 29 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Kevin F. Boehnke, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, and colleagues provided historical and current national trends in medical cannabis authorization by detailing the number and population rate of patients using medical cannabis, characterizing medical symptoms or conditions for which licensure can be obtained, and describing enrollment changes in jurisdictions with and without nonmedical recreational legislation from 2016 to 2024.

The researchers found that the total number of patients increased by 425 percent from 2016 to 2024 (746,975 to 3,920,592), and the patient rate increased by 176.3 percent (from 70.9 to 195.9 per 10,000). After the opening of recreational dispensaries, including in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, 15 of 19 jurisdictions reported decreased patient enrollment. The most common patient-reported qualifying condition was chronic pain, which accounted for 64.5 and 31.9 percent of all patient-reported qualifying conditions in 2016 and 2024, respectively. In 2024, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety were the next most common patient-reported qualifying conditions (28.6 and 16.7 percent, respectively). There was a decrease observed in the percentage of conditions classified as having substantial or conclusive evidence of therapeutic benefit, from 84.6 to 57.9 and 38.3 percent in 2016, 2020, and 2024, respectively, mainly driven by increases in PTSD, anxiety, and achievement of abstinence from addictive substance use.

“Our results highlight increased licensure for mental health conditions since 2018,” the authors write.

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