Why Australian clinics cannot advertise CBD

Australian clinics cannot advertise CBD because the law bans advertising prescription medicines to the public, and CBD is a prescription medicine. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) puts it in one line: “Under the Act, advertising medicinal cannabis to the public is prohibited.”¹ The ban is enforced, with penalties in the millions of dollars.²

What does the law prohibit?

The rules are in the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. The TGA’s guidance for medicinal cannabis businesses, published in December 2023, identifies several separate prohibitions.¹

The ban would also apply to an over-the-counter product if one is ever approved. The guidance says: “Schedule 3 cannabidiol cannot be advertised to the public.”¹

What counts as advertising?

Much more than a paid ad. The legal definition of “advertise” includes “any statement, pictorial representation or design that is intended, whether directly or indirectly, to promote the use or supply of the goods”.¹

The test is objective. It turns “not by what the person responsible for the content intends, but by what a reasonable consumer would understand the intent of the content to be”.¹

According to the TGA guidance, all of the following can make content an advertisement for medicinal cannabis:¹

• “company, business or trading names”, and product or trade names
• “abbreviation or acronyms for the goods or their active constituents (e.g. CBD, THC, Delta-9 etc.)”
• colloquial names and hashtags
• “photos, logos, or graphics of cannabis plants or leaves”
• euphemisms. “Plant-based medicine” is likely to be promotional if the context “draws the viewers’ mind to medicinal cannabis”
• listing conditions that medicinal cannabis may treat, or offering an eligibility checklist or questionnaire
• testimonials and endorsements, which are “likely to be considered advertising and … therefore unlawful”
• links to third-party material that promotes medicinal cannabis. These “will make the business’ website an advertisement for medicinal cannabis, even where it would otherwise not have been”.

The rules cover websites, blogs, podcasts, social media, email, forums and online business profiles. A business is also responsible for user comments on platforms it controls.¹

A disclaimer does not fix it. “Including a disclaimer or caveat … does not discharge the obligation to comply with legislation.”¹

What can a clinic lawfully say?

A clinic can advertise a health service. That sits outside the therapeutic goods advertising rules “so long as the advertising of the health service does not also promote a therapeutic good”. The TGA says clinics “should only promote the type of consultations the service offers, not the product”.¹

The line is drawn at supply. It is unlawful for a business to “indicate that they, or any other business, can supply medicinal cannabis”.¹

Other things that are permitted:¹

• Information a practitioner gives their own patient in a consultation. Mass emails, texts and public webinars are not covered by this.
• Advertising directed only to health professionals, if the material is not publicly accessible.
• A link to balanced material that covers a range of treatment options and does not emphasise cannabis over other treatments. This is unlikely to make a site an advertisement.

Did the rules change in 2026?

The Act did not change. In mid-2026 the TGA published broader guidance called “Complying with the restrictions on advertising prescription medicines to the public”.³ An industry body describes it as folding the 2023 medicinal cannabis guidance into a general framework for all prescription medicines.⁴

We could not open the guidance itself, so we rely on summaries. A law firm’s reading in June 2026 was that booking systems, intake forms, symptom checkers and eligibility questionnaires that steer people toward a medicine are higher risk, that price lists for prescription-only treatments are higher risk, and that the TGA weighs the overall impression of content, not just whether a product is named.⁵

What enforcement has there been?

The TGA has used infringement notices (on-the-spot fines), direction notices and Federal Court action. The cases below are as reported by the TGA.

Read the table with care. An infringement notice records an allegation by the TGA. It is not a court finding, and paying one is not an admission. “Proceedings begun” means the TGA has made allegations that a court has not yet decided. Only the last row is a court decision.

In the two years to June 2024, the TGA issued 165 infringement notices worth more than $2.3 million for alleged unlawful advertising of medicinal cannabis.⁹

The CDA Clinics decision

The outcome announced on 30 October 2026 is the first Federal Court penalty for medicinal cannabis advertising that we found. According to the TGA’s media release, the court found that the company promoted medicinal cannabis products that were not on the national register, and promoted medicinal cannabis for serious conditions. The release quotes the judge as saying the company’s website, blog posts and Facebook posts “worked together to encourage consumer engagement with CDA’s services and to facilitate access to CBD products”, and that the advertisements “formed part of a deliberate commercial strategy”.²

Two points stand out. Blog posts were part of the unlawful conduct. And the former director was ordered to pay $450,000 personally, for aiding and abetting the company’s conduct.² We relied on the TGA’s media release and did not read the judgment itself.

The Montu and Alternaleaf case

This case has not been decided, and everything below is an allegation. The TGA alleges the companies advertised medicinal cannabis using terms such as “plant medicine”, represented it as safe, and included endorsements from health professionals. It is seeking penalties and injunctions.⁸ Legal media reported in late October 2026 that the companies argued in the Federal Court that their posts were educational and fell outside the advertising rules.¹⁴ As of 13 November 2026 we found no judgment, and the TGA’s court action page listed no result.¹⁵

The decision, when it comes, is likely to be important for where the line sits between education and advertising.

Media and PR firms

The rules are not limited to sellers. The TGA says: “The Act applies to anyone publishing information about therapeutic goods whether they are media outlets or the suppliers of those goods.”¹⁰ They apply “even when advertising is carried out by third parties on behalf of a business”.¹²

In the Atlus case, the TGA alleges that articles on two media companies’ websites unlawfully advertised medicinal cannabis following a public relations campaign by Atlus. The PR firm is a party to the case as well.¹¹ These are allegations and the case has not been decided.

How large can the penalties be?

The infringement notice totals above range from about $10,000 to more than $600,000. Court-ordered penalties can be far larger, as the $6.95 million outcome shows.²

The Act sets maximum civil and criminal penalties in “penalty units”. We could not confirm the current maximums against the Act itself, so we have not quoted them. A Commonwealth penalty unit is $364 for conduct on or after 1 July 2026.¹⁶

Why does this mean clinics publish so little?

Because nearly everything a patient would want to see is on the TGA’s list of things likely to be advertising: product names, conditions, eligibility quizzes, testimonials, even leaf imagery.¹ A clinic that follows the guidance can describe its consultations and little else.

For the public, this has an odd effect:

• Silence is not a warning sign. A sparse clinic website may simply be a compliant one.
• Volume is not a sign of legitimacy. Health claims, testimonials and product lists are all things the TGA’s guidance says are likely to be unlawful advertising.¹ See buying CBD online.
• The detail comes in the consultation. A practitioner can discuss products, doses, costs and suitability with their own patient.¹ See talking to your GP about CBD and cannabis clinics and telehealth.

The same rules shape this site. It names no clinics, brands, pharmacies or sellers, and it does not say where CBD can be obtained beyond describing the legal pathway.

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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