The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), based in Vienna, is the ultimate regulator of the flow of legal cannabis around the world.
It recently released its 2026 report, and warns that because of changing reporting measures, stats may change significantly in the years ahead.
One of the most striking features of its report is how legal cannabis production is dropping dramaticallay even as the consumer market expands. It’s 2026 report on cannabis shows that legal global cannabis production has dropped a staggering 48% from its 2021 all-time peak of 907,9 tons to 549,2 in 2024.
South Africa barely features in the CND report released on 26 February 2026, and clearly the local export sector is struggling to make any sort of meaningful impact abroad.
In 2024, the largest producers of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes were:
1. Canada (248.2 tons, or 45.2% of global production),
2. the United Kingdom (95 tons, or 17.2%),
3. Portugal (46.8 tons, or 8.5%),
4. Australia (41.3 tons, or 7.5%) and
5. Denmark (25.4 tons, or 4.6%).
Among the countries each reporting less than 2% of global production were Colombia, Ecuador, South Africa, North Macedonia and Spain.
In 2024, the main country reporting exports of cannabis were:
1. Canada (145.8 tons, or 57.3% of the global total)
2. Portugal (46.9 tons, or 18.4%),
3. Colombia (11.7 tons, or 4.6%),
4. Denmark (10.7 tons, or 4.1%),
5. Spain (8.1 tons, or 3.2%) and
6. Germany (7.4 tons, or 3%).
In 2024, countries reporting the largest share of cannabis imports were:
1. Germany (72.6 tons, or 29.1% of the global total)
2. Australia (52.4 tons, or 21%),
3. Portugal (39.1 tons, or 15.7%),
4. Israel (24.6 tons, or 9.8%),
5. the United Kingdom (12.8 tons, or 5.2%),
6. Czechia (10.5 tons, or 4.2%),
7. North Macedonia (9.8 tons, or 3.9%) and
8. Poland (7.9 tons, or 3.2%).
The global stocks of cannabis amounted to 836 tons in 2024, a slight decrease from the 852.1 tons reported in 2023.
The countries with the biggest cannabis stockpiles are:
1. United Kingdom (530 tons, or 63.4% of the global total),
2. Colombia (65 tons, or 7.8%),
3. Australia (56.3 tons, or 6.7%),
4. Portugal (46.6 tons, or 5.6%),
5. North Macedonia (22.8 tons, or 2.7%),
6. Germany (22.5 tons, or 2.7%) and
7. Uruguay (20.2 tons, or 2.4%).
CND on Reporting Changes
Since December 2020, following the vote of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the WHO recommendations on cannabis and cannabis-related substances, the Board has held various consultations with experts and Member States to revise the reporting requirements for cannabis and cannabis-related substances, with a view to achieving harmonization.
As a result of those consultations, the Board introduced new reporting requirements, effective for data relating to 2024. 168. As part of the new reporting requirements, changes in the requirements for reporting on cannabis (understood as the flowering and fruiting top of the cannabis plant) and cannabis-related substances have been introduced.
As of 2024, cannabis and cannabis resin must be reported using the forms provided to Governments for reporting under the 1961 Convention as amended. However, any preparation or by-product derived from cannabis should be reported in terms of the cannabinoids that it contains, using the forms provided for reporting under the 1971 Convention.
Owing to those changes, it is expected that, in the coming years, the data relating to the consumption, trade and stocks of cannabis presented in the reports of the Board on narcotic drugs will change noticeably, as more countries are expected to report data on controlled cannabinoids using separate forms provided for reporting under the 1971 Convention, rather than the forms for reporting under the 1961 Convention as amended.
#
