A new report has indicated that people are becoming more tolerant of cannabis use for medicinal purposes.

The report on cannabis use on the island of Ireland has been published by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol.

It stems from the 2010/2011 Drug Prevalence Survey of almost 8,000 people.

The report shows that almost one user in ten has a cannabis dependency and that users tend to be well-educated, male and renters of their accommodation.

The report also indicates a fall in the frequency of cannabis use.

NACDA Chairperson Prof Catherine Comiskey said that while people were not tolerant of cannabis use for recreational purposes, they were becoming more accepting of use for medicinal reasons.

She said that within the general population people were quite tolerant of use for the medicinal purposes - one such purpose could be for restricted use for certain cases of multiple sclerosis.

Prof Comiskey said the increased tolerance of cannabis use for medicinal purposes was relatively "new" and was not something that was prevalent in previous surveys.

She said users were buying cannabis through informal contacts and friends, while regular cannabis users were taking the drug less frequently than before.