Public views of cannabis have continued to change since 2013. The 2019 survey marked the first time that more people supported the legalisation of cannabis than opposed it. This continued in 2022–2023, with support for legalisation of cannabis increasing to 45% and the proportion of people who believed that possession of cannabis should not be a criminal offence reached an all-time high of 80%. Additionally, 2022–2023 was the first year the proportion of people supporting legalisation was higher than the proportion of people supporting increased penalties for the sale or supply of cannabis (39%).
In 2022–2023, 11.5% of people in Australia had used cannabis in the previous 12 months, equating to around 2.5 million people. This was similar to 2019, when 11.6% of people had done so, but is still lower than the proportion doing so in 2001 (12.9%). This report refers to illegal use of cannabis in Australia, excluding prescribed medical cannabis. People who had only used cannabis for medical purposes and had only obtained their cannabis with a prescription, are not included in ‘cannabis use in the last 12 months’ statistics.
However, lifetime use of cannabis includes everyone who has used cannabis at least once in their lifetime, and as a result may include people who have only used prescribed cannabis for medical purposes. In 2022–2023 use of prescribed medical cannabis was relatively low and was not responsible for the increases in lifetime use of medical cannabis, however trends should be interpreted with caution. Use of cannabis in regions where possession and use of cannabis have been decriminalised is included in both lifetime use and use in the last 12 months.
National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023: Cannabis in the NDSHS