Cannabis Psychosis Hospitalisations in Victoria Up 49%

What the study looked at

The data comes from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset, which records every hospital admission in the state and is supplied by the Victorian Department of Health. The team from the Monash Addiction Research Centre pulled out every case that involved cannabis poisoning or a mental or behavioral disorder caused by cannabis.

That added up to 39,565 admissions over ten years. In most of them, cannabis was part of the picture but not the main reason for the stay. In 7,263 cases, cannabis was the principal diagnosis. That is the group behind the 49% figure. The researchers compared rates per 100,000 people, not raw numbers, so the increase is not simply explained by population growth.

The key numbers

• Up 49%: the rate of admissions with cannabis as the principal diagnosis, comparing 2022/2023 with 2013/2014.
• 40% psychosis: 2,909 of the 7,263 principal-diagnosis cases were cannabis-induced psychotic disorder. No other diagnosis came close.
• Young people hit hardest: the highest rates were among 15 to 24 year olds. Young men had 36.9 cases per 100,000, young women 20.5.
• Women catching up: men still make up most cases, but the rate among women and girls rose 75%, compared with 35% among men.
• Peak in 2020/2021: the rise was not a straight line. Rates were highest in 2020/2021 and came down slightly after that.

How to read these numbers

The study shows how often people were treated in hospital for cannabis problems. It does not show why that number went up. Several explanations are possible: more people using cannabis, stronger products with more THC, and doctors recording cannabis more often than before. The authors point out that lifetime use of both illicit and medical cannabis has increased in Australia over the past decade.

It is just as important to be clear about what the numbers do not say. The vast majority of people who use cannabis never end up in hospital. And Victoria is one state, not the whole world. Still, the pattern matches what researchers have reported in other countries: psychosis is one of the most serious harms of heavy cannabis use, and it hits young people the most.

What cannabis-induced psychosis is

Psychosis means losing touch with reality, fully or partly. Common signs are feeling watched or followed, hearing voices, or being convinced that other people want to hurt you. Cannabis-induced psychosis can fade within days once use stops. For some people it lingers or comes back, and some later develop a lasting condition such as schizophrenia.

Risk depends mostly on three things: how often you use, how strong the product is, and how young you were when you started. Daily use of high-THC cannabis is considered the biggest risk factor. A family history of mental illness adds to it.

What this means if you smoke every day

Nobody plans to end up in a hospital. Most of the cases in this study did not start with psychosis. They started with ordinary use that slowly became more. That is why the early signs matter, long before things get serious:

• You need more than you used to to feel the effect.
• You smoke more often, during the day or right after waking up.
• You feel worse without it: restless, irritable, unable to sleep.
• You get paranoid or anxious when high, and that did not use to happen.

That last one is a warning sign. If weed makes you scared, sends your thoughts spinning, or leaves you feeling that people are talking about you, take it seriously. Talk to a doctor or an addiction counselor before it gets worse.

What you can do now

You do not have to wait until you show up in a statistic. If you recognize yourself in some of the signs above, this is a good moment to take an honest look at your use. A break of a few weeks often shows you how much cannabis is running your days. The first days are usually the hardest. Poor sleep, irritability and restlessness are part of it, and they pass.

And if you notice you cannot do it alone, that is not failure. It means you need support, and that support exists.

Source: Graham M, Berecki-Gisolf J, Hayman J, Carter A, Arunogiri S, Nielsen S. A decade of cannabis-related hospital admissions in Victoria, Australia: A retrospective observational study. Addiction, October 11, 2026. DOI: 10.1111/add.70601