Medical Marijuana in Poland: Rpw Prescription in 2026

Until early November 2024 cannabis could be prescribed in a remote consultation, and online clinics built a business on it. A Ministry of Health regulation of 29 October 2024 (Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1600) closed that route, and the cannabis clinics that remain now sell something slower and more medical: an appointment in a room with a doctor.

Legal since

1 November 2017 (Act of 7 July 2017, Dz.U. 2017 poz. 1458)

Who prescribes

Any physician except a veterinarian

Prescription type

Rpw, compounded medicine

Validity

Fill within 30 days of issue; up to 90 days of use per prescription

Reimbursement

None; patient pays in full

Remote consultation

Not enough since 7 Nov 2024: personal examination required

Why the Rpw prescription looks different from an ordinary one

Cannabis flos is not a branded medicine with a package leaflet. It is a raw pharmaceutical material that a pharmacy weighs out and hands over as a compounded (recepturowy) drug, which is why the prescription is marked Rpw, the category for narcotic substances.

The regulation of 11 September 2006 caps a prescription at the patient's need for 90 days and requires it to be filled within 30 days of issue; pharmacy listings name each product as Cannabis flos with its THC and CBD content, for example THC 22%, CBD up to 1%.

Articles 33a to 33d of the Act, which created the route, contain no list of qualifying conditions. The prescriber decides, and since any doctor may prescribe, the quality of the consultation varies. If a prescriber issues the note without asking about your medical history, other medicines and any psychosis or heart problems in the family, treat that as a warning about the clinic, not a convenience.

Five steps from the first appointment to the pharmacy counter

1. Book a physical visit
   Confirm by phone that the doctor sees you in the room. A clinic that advertises a purely remote consultation for cannabis has to explain how it meets the personal-examination rule.
2. Bring records
   Diagnosis letters, a list of current medicines, and any earlier cannabis prescription. Continuation of an existing therapy is the one case the regulation exempts, and only for family doctors under an NFZ primary-care contract.
3. Receive the Rpw e-prescription
   You get an access code by SMS or e-mail, as with any e-prescription.
4. Find a stocking pharmacy
   Availability depends on the strain and batch. Ask the pharmacy to check its wholesaler before you travel, and compare the per-gram price, because it differs a lot (see the price guide linked below).
5. Fill it within 30 days
   The prescription must be filled within 30 days of the date it was issued, so book the pharmacy before that window closes.

Which appointments are still allowed

The exception is narrow. It covers only doctors working under an NFZ primary-care contract, not out-of-hours care, who continue an existing treatment, and it lifts only the duty to examine you personally. Ask the practice whether it applies to you before you rely on it.

How supply grew and what still limits it

1. 2017-11-01

   Cannabis flos becomes prescribable as a compounded drug. The Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate (GIF) counts about 14 kg of imports that year.

2. 2022-05

   Amendment (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 763, in force 7 May 2022, new Art. 49a) lets a research institute supervised by the agriculture minister grow cannabis for pharmaceutical raw material under a GIF permit; the flower on the shelf is still imported.

3. 2023

   GIF: about 4.5 tonnes imported.

4. 2024

   GIF: about 7.8 tonnes, up roughly 73%.

5. 2024-11-07

   Prescribing cannabis flower requires the prescriber to examine the patient personally, under the Minister of Health's regulation of 29 October 2024 (Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1600).

Imports have grown every year since 2017, according to GIF figures reported by Rynek Zdrowia in February 2025. What a patient still meets is the price, because Medicover and MedCan report that none of the flower is reimbursed, and strain-by-strain availability at a given pharmacy.

• Do they take a history? Diagnosis, current medicines, psychiatric and cardiac history, pregnancy plans.
• Do they discuss form and dose? Vaporized flower and oral use differ, and the prescriber sets the quantity.
• Do they mention driving and work? Cannabis affects driving; a proper consultation covers it.
• Do they book a review? A follow-up date is a sign the clinic sees you as a patient.

Could a Czech prescription or a Czech shop do the job instead?

Some Poles look across the border to the Czech medical system, where insurance can pay part of the cost. That does not help a Polish resident: a Czech prescription cannot be filled in Poland, and buying flower in Czechia and carrying it home is possession of cannabis under Polish law. The Poland hub explains the wider rules.

Side effects, interactions with other medicines and driving are for your prescriber to discuss. In an emergency call 112 (Poland's emergency number).