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Are CBD gummies legal in Australia?

Only as a prescribed medicine dispensed by a pharmacy. CBD gummies cannot be sold as food or lollies in Australia, and imports can be seized.

Facts checked 13 November 20262 min readHow we research

Only on prescription. In Australia a CBD gummy is lawful only as a medicine that a doctor or nurse practitioner has prescribed and a pharmacy has dispensed. CBD gummies cannot be sold as food, lollies or supplements, and they cannot be imported by post.12

Why can they not be sold as food?

The Food Standards Code allows only the cannabinoids naturally present in hemp seed, and caps CBD at 75 mg/kg in any food. CBD cannot be added.2 That rules out the CBD gummies sold in shops overseas.

A gummy with more than a trace of CBD falls into the medicine schedules instead. CBD is a prescription medicine, and no over-the-counter CBD product has been registered.13

“Hemp gummies” sold as food can lawfully contain only a trace of CBD, and their labels cannot make claims about CBD.2

Are gummies ever prescribed?

According to one analysis of regulator data, 19.7% of Special Access Scheme approvals for medicinal cannabis in the year to October 2025 were for “edible” products, a category that analysis defines as pastilles, chewable tablets and capsules, so it is not a count of gummies.4 That figure covers all cannabis medicines, most of which contain THC. Whether a gummy suits you, and what it contains, is for a prescriber to decide.

Why are regulators concerned about gummies?

Because they look and taste like lollies.

  • In its 2025 review, the Therapeutic Goods Administration wrote that there is “limited evidence to support the safety and efficacy of other dosage forms such as sprays, suppositories, topicals and edibles”.3
  • The Department of Veterans’ Affairs stopped funding gummies and pastilles under its framework from 16 February 2026. It funds oral products only as capsules and liquids.5
  • The serious poisonings in children identified in our research involved gummies containing THC, not pure CBD. Mislabelled “CBD” products can contain THC.6

Keep any cannabis medicine locked away from children and pets.

Can you order CBD gummies from overseas?

No. Cannabinoids are prohibited imports without a licence and permit.7 In 2021 the Australian Border Force warned of “a marked increase” in interceptions of “hemp or CBD gummies, oils and skin care products”, and said they would be seized and that importers may face prosecution.8

Does the format change how CBD works?

A gummy is swallowed, so it behaves like other oral CBD. Only about 6 per cent of swallowed CBD reaches the bloodstream on an empty stomach, and food changes that several-fold.9 See ways to take CBD compared.

Read the full guide: CBD gummies in Australia.

Footnotes

  1. Australian Government. Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard, October 2026) Instrument 2026. https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026L01327/asmade/2026-09-30/text/original/pdf ↩ ↩2

  2. Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, Standard 1.4.4 (compilation in force 12 November 2017). https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2015L00416/2017-11-12/2017-11-12/text/original/epub/OEBPS/document_1/document_1.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Consultation paper on 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

  4. Penington Institute. Cannabis in Australia, November 2025. https://www.penington.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Penington_Institute_Cannabis-in-Australia_Nov_2025.pdf ↩

  5. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Updated medicinal cannabis framework. https://www.dva.gov.au/providers/provider-news/updated-medicinal-cannabis-framework-supports-safe-and-effective-prescribing-practices ↩

  6. Review of paediatric cannabinoid exposures. Frontiers in Toxicology, 2024. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ftox.2024.1371651/full ↩

  7. Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956, regulation 5. https://www.legislation.gov.au/F1996B03651/latest/text ↩

  8. Australian Border Force media release, 5 July 2021, as republished by Mirage News. https://www.miragenews.com/increase-in-seizures-prompts-warning-to-590129/ ↩

  9. World Health Organization. Cannabidiol (CBD) critical review report, 2018. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/controlled-substances/whocbdreportmay2018-2.pdf ↩

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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