How Many Medical Cannabis Patients Are in Israel?

The number of licensed medical cannabis patients is the clearest single gauge of Israel's regulated market — and its trajectory is not a straight line. After more than a decade of almost uninterrupted growth, the count fell for the first time following the 2024 reform, then climbed back to an all-time high. This guide tracks that arc and explains what drove each turn.

This guide is informational and is not medical advice. Figures come from Health Ministry data as analysed in peer-reviewed research and as reported in the Israeli press.

A decade of growth

For more than ten years the licensed patient base grew almost without pause. A peer-reviewed review of Health Ministry data in the Journal of Cannabis Research charts the rise precisely: from just 3,097 active licences in April 2011 to 140,483 by January 2024 — an increase of roughly 4,400% (Journal of Cannabis Research, 2025). That made Israel home to one of the largest per-capita medical cannabis populations in the world.

The 2024–25 contraction

Then, for the first time, the line turned down. Following the 2024 reform that moved prescribing into the public health funds (HMOs), the same study records the programme's first sustained contraction: a 7.5% decline to about 129,900 active licences and prescriptions by March 2025 (Journal of Cannabis Research, 2025).

Why the numbers fell

Counter-intuitively, a reform meant to normalise cannabis access reduced the patient count. The researchers attribute the drop to three things:

• Stricter HMO gatekeeping and transition friction as prescribing moved into the health funds.
• Renewal attrition — as licences lapsed under the new administrative burden, many simply weren't renewed.
• A cleanup of questionable licences. In one striking case, a single physician had reportedly approved more than 13,000 licences before those authorisations were revoked (Journal of Cannabis Research, 2025).

So part of the decline reflects tighter control rather than falling genuine demand — a distinction that matters when reading the headline number.

Back to a record in 2026

The contraction proved temporary. Health Ministry figures for May 2026 put the licensed patient population at an all-time high of 143,900 — above the January 2024 figure, resuming growth after a stretch of stagnation (Cannabis Magazine, 12 July 2026).

Read together, the arc has three phases: a decade of expansion to 140,483 in January 2024, an administrative contraction to about 129,900 by March 2025, and a recovery to a new high of 143,900 by May 2026.

Who the patients are

The composition has shifted alongside the count. Chronic non-cancer pain remains the dominant indication, rising from 53% to 63% of approvals, while PTSD grew by roughly 89% — a trend amplified by the war that began in October 2023 (Journal of Cannabis Research, 2025). For more on those indications, see our guides on chronic pain and PTSD.

What it means

Both turns matter for the sector. The 2024–25 dip pushed operators away from expansion at any cost and toward margin, format and consolidation, with several pivoting to Germany for growth. The 2026 record cuts the other way: it suggests the Israeli base can absorb tighter administration and still grow, and that the plateau thesis was premature. How far it grows from here depends largely on whether the system can convert illicit users (see market size) faster than renewal friction sheds existing ones.

For the wider picture, see the Market hub.