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How legal access to CBD oil works in Australia

CBD oil is a prescription medicine in Australia. This page explains the lawful pathway, who decides, how long it takes and what medical bodies advise.

Facts checked 13 November 20269 min readHow we research

In Australia, CBD oil is a prescription medicine. As of November 2026, the only lawful way to get it is for a registered doctor or nurse practitioner to decide it is clinically appropriate for you, obtain the required approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and write a prescription that a pharmacy dispenses.1 There is no lawful over-the-counter CBD product, and you cannot apply to the TGA yourself.2

This page describes that pathway. It does not recommend CBD, and it cannot tell you whether a prescriber would consider it suitable for you.

Why is a prescription needed?

CBD (cannabidiol) is listed in Schedule 4 of the Poisons Standard, the national list that sorts medicines by how tightly they are controlled. Schedule 4 means “prescription only”.3 The Schedule 4 entry covers products where CBD makes up 98% or more of the cannabinoids. Products with more of the other cannabinoids, including many sold as “full spectrum” or “CBD dominant”, are Schedule 8 controlled drugs.34 The page on CBD scheduling explains the difference.

A Schedule 3 entry also exists. It would let pharmacists supply low-dose CBD (up to 150 mg a day) to adults without a prescription, but only for a product that the TGA has assessed and registered.3 The TGA said in August 2025 that no complete application for such a product had been submitted, and in March 2026 it confirmed that only two cannabis medicines were registered at all.56 See Can you buy CBD over the counter in Australia?

What does “unapproved” mean?

Only two cannabis medicines are registered in Australia: Epidyolex (a CBD oral solution for two rare childhood-onset epilepsies) and Sativex (nabiximols, a spray containing both THC and CBD, for spasticity in multiple sclerosis).67 They are covered on the page about registered cannabis medicines.

Every other CBD oil is an “unapproved therapeutic good”. The TGA describes these as products that “have not been assessed by us for safety, quality or effectiveness”.1 They must still meet a manufacturing and quality standard, described under quality standards. Unapproved does not mean illegal. It means the product can only be supplied through one of the special pathways below.

What are the lawful pathways?

The TGA lists three routes to an unapproved cannabis medicine.1

Pathway How it works Who can use it
Special Access Scheme (SAS) The prescriber applies to the TGA for one named patient and waits for an approval letter. Doctors and other eligible health practitioners, including nurse practitioners
Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme The prescriber holds a standing TGA authority to prescribe a product type to a class of patients with the same condition. No application is made for each patient. Medical practitioners only
Clinical trial The product is supplied as part of an approved research study. Trial participants

Sources for the table: TGA.189 Each scheme has its own page: the Special Access Scheme and the Authorised Prescriber scheme.

The TGA says practitioners may use these pathways “if all other clinically appropriate treatment options” on the Australian register have been considered.1

What are the steps?

The pathway looks like this in practice. It is a description, not a checklist for obtaining a prescription.

  1. A consultation. A doctor or nurse practitioner assesses the person. The Medical Board and the Nursing and Midwifery Board expect a full assessment, including social, mental health and substance use history, and say this “cannot be achieved in a short online consultation”.10
  2. A clinical decision. The prescriber decides whether a cannabis medicine is appropriate. They may decide it is not. The Boards say patient demand “is not an indication to prescribe”.10
  3. Informed consent. The prescriber must explain that the product is unapproved, that approved alternatives may exist, the known and possible risks and interactions, the possible effect on driving, and the costs.11
  4. TGA approval or authority. The prescriber applies under the SAS, or relies on an Authorised Prescriber authority they already hold. The TGA says SAS applications are processed in 2 to 5 days.8 State or territory rules can add requirements for some products.8
  5. A prescription and dispensing. The prescription is filled at a pharmacy. See filling a CBD prescription.
  6. Follow-up. The Boards expect a management plan with follow-up and an “exit strategy” for stopping if the medicine is not helping.10
The lawful pathway to a CBD prescription in Australia Consultation A doctor or nurse practitioner assesses the person Clinical decision The prescriber decides whether a cannabis medicine is appropriate. They may decide it is not. Registered medicine Epidyolex is the only registered CBD-only medicine. It is for two rare epilepsies. Unapproved product Needs TGA approval under the Special Access Scheme, or the prescriber's Authorised Prescriber authority Prescription and dispensing The prescription is filled at a pharmacy Follow-up A management plan, including stopping if it is not helping
A simplified view of the lawful pathway described on this page. It describes the system and is not a recommendation.

The prescriber may be a GP, a specialist or a doctor at another practice, and any of them may decide a cannabis medicine is not appropriate. See who can prescribe CBD, talking to your GP about CBD and cannabis clinics and telehealth.

What do medical bodies say about when CBD is appropriate?

Australian medical bodies are cautious.

  • The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) describes the evidence as “limited and inconclusive”. Its position statement “does not recommend nor encourage” medicinal cannabis, and says it should only be considered when all first-line, conventional, evidence-based treatments have been exhausted.12
  • Ahpra and the Boards say medicinal cannabis “should never be a first line treatment” and that, with a few exceptions, “there is little evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis”.10
  • Healthdirect, the government health information service, says a doctor will usually only prescribe it if other medicines do not work.2

These statements are about medicinal cannabis as a whole, most of which contains THC. For CBD on its own, controlled trials support its use in certain severe epilepsies. For many other conditions, trials have found CBD no better than placebo, or there are no good trials yet.131415 The conditions section grades the evidence for each use, and what Australian medical bodies say sets out the positions in more detail.

How many people use the prescription pathway?

In the 2022 to 2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, about 3% of people aged 14 and over said they had used cannabis for medical purposes in the past year. Of those, 22% said they always obtained it on prescription.16 The survey covers all cannabis, not CBD alone.

CBD-only products are a small part of what is prescribed. A TGA release shows 29,165 SAS approvals for CBD-only oral liquids in 2024, against 177,762 SAS approvals for all medicinal cannabis that year.175 Industry sales data reported by the Penington Institute show that 85% of units sold in the first half of 2025 were products with almost no CBD.4

What is not a lawful way to get CBD?

  • Ordering from overseas. The TGA says cannabis products “are excluded from personal importation”, other than through a narrow exemption for travellers carrying their own prescribed medicine.18 See importing CBD.
  • Buying from a website without a prescription. A product with more than trace CBD is at least a Schedule 4 medicine and cannot lawfully be supplied without a prescription.3 See buying CBD online.
  • Hemp seed oil. It is a lawful food, but by law it contains almost no CBD (75 mg per kg or less).3 See CBD oil vs hemp seed oil.

What does it cost?

Patients usually pay for the consultation and the full price of the medicine. Healthdirect says the cost of medicinal cannabis varies and “may cost thousands of dollars each year”.2 The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme subsidises only Epidyolex, for specific epilepsies.7 See how much CBD costs in Australia and PBS, Medicare and health insurance.

Safety points to raise with a prescriber

CBD can interact with other medicines and can affect liver tests, and it is not advised in pregnancy or breastfeeding. See drug interactions, CBD and the liver and pregnancy and breastfeeding. A lawful CBD product can contain small amounts of other cannabinoids, including THC, which matters for driving and drug tests.3

Footnotes

  1. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Access pathways for medicinal cannabis. https://www.tga.gov.au/products/unapproved-therapeutic-goods/medicinal-cannabis/access-pathways ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Healthdirect Australia. Medicinal cannabis, last reviewed February 2026. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/medicinal-cannabis ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Australian Government. Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard, October 2026) Instrument 2026, Schedules 3 and 4, cannabidiol entries. https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026L01327/asmade/2026-09-30/text/original/pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. Penington Institute. Cannabis in Australia, November 2025 (restating the TGA product categories and reporting TGA sales data). https://www.penington.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Penington_Institute_Cannabis-in-Australia_Nov_2025.pdf ↩ ↩2

  5. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Consultation paper: Reviewing the safety and regulatory oversight of unapproved medicinal cannabis products, August 2025. https://consultations.tga.gov.au/medicines-regulation-division/test-soms/user_uploads/final---consultation-paper---medicinal-cannabis-review---august-2025.pdf ↩ ↩2

  6. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Paper to the scheduling committee, 18 March 2026, released as FOI 26-2886. https://www.tga.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-06/FOI%2026-2886.PDF ↩ ↩2

  7. Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Cannabidiol, item 12467E. https://www.pbs.gov.au/medicine/item/12467E ↩ ↩2

  8. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Access to unapproved therapeutic goods for individual patients (Special Access Scheme), updated 3 December 2025. https://www.tga.gov.au/business-services/special-access-scheme-and-authorised-prescriber-online-system/access-unapproved-therapeutic-goods-individual-patients-special-access-scheme ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Access to unapproved therapeutic goods for multiple patients (Authorised Prescriber), updated 23 December 2025. https://www.tga.gov.au/business-services/special-access-scheme-and-authorised-prescriber-online-system/access-unapproved-therapeutic-goods-multiple-patients-authorised-prescriber ↩

  10. Ahpra, Medical Board of Australia and Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. Medicinal cannabis prescribing, page reviewed 15 September 2026. https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Resources/Medicinal-cannabis-prescribing.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  11. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Do your patients know the risks of unapproved medicinal cannabis products?, 2 June 2026. https://www.tga.gov.au/news/blog/do-your-patients-know-risks-unapproved-medicinal-cannabis-products ↩

  12. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Position statement: medicinal cannabis products. https://www.racgp.org.au/advocacy/position-statements/view-all-position-statements/clinical-and-practice-management/medical-cannabis ↩

  13. Bebee B and others. Cannabidiol for acute low back pain (CANBACK trial), Medical Journal of Australia, 2021. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/cannabidiol-no-better-placebo-low-back-pain ↩

  14. Pramhas S and others. Oral cannabidiol as add-on to paracetamol for painful chronic osteoarthritis of the knee, randomised trial, 2023. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10682664/ ↩

  15. Narayan AJ and others. Cannabidiol for moderate to severe insomnia, randomised controlled trial of 150 mg nightly, 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38174873/ ↩

  16. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022 to 2023: medical marijuana and cannabis. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/illicit-use-of-drugs/national-drug-strategy-household-survey-2022-2023/contents/detailed-findings/medical-marijuana-cannabis ↩

  17. Therapeutic Goods Administration. FOI 25-0200: Category 1 (CBD) medicinal cannabis approvals and supply data, 2025. https://www.tga.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-06/FOI%2025-0200.pdf ↩

  18. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Medicinal cannabis: importation and the traveller’s exemption, updated 29 January 2025. https://www.tga.gov.au/resources/explore-topic/medicinal-cannabis-hub/medicinal-cannabis-information-patients/medicinal-cannabis-importation-and-travellers-exemption ↩

Common questions

Can I buy CBD oil without a prescription in Australia?

No. The law allows a pharmacist-only CBD product in principle, but as of November 2026 no such product has been approved, so there is nothing a pharmacy can lawfully sell without a prescription. Products sold online as CBD oil without a prescription are not lawful supply.

Can I apply to the TGA myself for CBD oil?

No. Patients cannot apply. Access can only be arranged through an Australian registered health practitioner, who applies to or notifies the TGA on the patient's behalf.

Do I have to have tried other treatments first?

The TGA says its access pathways are for cases where all other clinically appropriate treatments on the Australian register have been considered. The Medical Board, through Ahpra, says medicinal cannabis should never be a first line treatment. The decision in each case belongs to the prescriber.

How long does TGA approval take?

Where the prescriber must apply to the TGA for an individual patient, the TGA says applications are processed in 2 to 5 days, and longer if it needs more information. A prescriber who already holds an Authorised Prescriber authority does not need a separate approval for each patient.

This page is general information, not medical or legal advice. Laws and evidence change; we show the date we last checked the facts at the top of every page. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

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