CBD oil in Victoria: the law, prescribing rules and driving

This page is about CBD oil (cannabidiol) in Victoria, not the Melbourne city centre. CBD is a prescription-only medicine in Victoria, as it is across Australia, because scheduling is set nationally. Victoria’s main point of difference is its driving law: since 1 March 2025, a court can decide not to cancel the licence of a prescribed medicinal cannabis patient who tests positive for THC. It is still an offence.

What is different in Victoria

• Court discretion on licence loss for prescribed patients, in force since 1 March 2025.¹
• A clear official statement on CBD-only medicines and driving, with a warning about trace THC.²
• A government-funded driving trial on a closed track, whose results are still awaited.³
• SafeScript monitors medicinal cannabis only when it is a Schedule 8 product.⁴

Is CBD oil legal in Victoria?

Yes, on prescription. The national Poisons Standard places cannabidiol in Schedule 4 (prescription only) where CBD is 98% or more of the cannabinoids in the product.⁵ A pharmacist-only Schedule 3 entry exists for low-dose CBD, but no product has been registered under it, so nothing is available over the counter.⁶ Details are in Is CBD legal in Australia? and CBD scheduling explained.

Products with more than 2% other cannabinoids, including most full-spectrum oils, are Schedule 8 controlled drugs.⁵

How prescribing works in Victoria

Prescribing is governed by the national system: a doctor or nurse practitioner prescribes, and for an unregistered product the prescriber needs approval or authorisation from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).⁷ See how the TGA regulates CBD and who can prescribe CBD.

We could not open the Victorian Department of Health’s medicinal cannabis page to confirm what, if anything, Victoria requires on top of the TGA process, so we do not state it. Proposals to restrict some cannabis prescribing to specialists went to a national meeting of health ministers in September 2025; a law-firm summary found no enacted change in Victoria.⁸ The Department of Health’s medicines and poisons regulation unit can confirm the current rule.

SafeScript

SafeScript is Victoria’s real-time prescription monitoring system. It lets prescribers and pharmacists see a patient’s history of certain high-risk medicines, and it has been mandatory to check since April 2020.⁴ The list of monitored medicines includes “medicinal cannabis products (when included in Schedule 8 of the Poisons Standard)”.⁴

So Schedule 8 cannabis products, the group that contains THC, are monitored. A CBD-only Schedule 4 medicine is not on the monitored list as a cannabis product.

Driving in Victoria

CBD-only medicines

Victoria’s patient fact sheet states: “If you are taking cannabidiol-only (CBD) medicines, you can legally drive, as long as you are not impaired.”²

It also gives the caution that applies everywhere: “some that contain mostly CBD may also contain very small amounts of THC”.² A Schedule 4 CBD medicine may lawfully contain up to 2% other cannabinoids.⁵

THC

Driving with THC present is an offence under section 49(1)(bb) of the Road Safety Act 1986, whether or not the driver is impaired. For a first offence dealt with in court, the maximum fine is 12 penalty units and the licence is cancelled for at least six months. Dealt with by infringement notice, it is a fine and a six-month suspension.⁹

What changed on 1 March 2025

The Roads and Road Safety Legislation Amendment Act 2024 added section 50(1F) to the Road Safety Act. Where the offence relates to medicinal cannabis used “in accordance with a prescription or other authority”, the mandatory licence cancellation does not apply, and the court “may” cancel instead.¹

The Department of Transport and Planning set out the limits of the change:¹⁰

• “It is still illegal for someone to drive with any amount of THC in their system.”
• In its words, “drivers will still be guilty of a drug driving offence, and the fine will stand”.
• The patient has to take the matter to court to ask for the discretion to be used.
• It applies only to tests on or after 1 March 2025.

This is not a defence. It is a chance to ask a magistrate to let you keep your licence.

The driving trial

The Victorian Government funded an 18-month, $4.9 million closed-circuit driving trial run by Swinburne University to study how prescribed medicinal cannabis affects driving. As of early October 2026, no results had been published.³

The comparison with other states is in CBD and driving.

Hemp in Victoria

Industrial hemp is grown under licence in Victoria under Part IVA of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981. The THC limit for the crop’s leaves and flowering heads is 1%.¹¹

The government consulted on stand-alone hemp legislation from 5 November to 3 December 2025.¹² A private member’s Hemp Industry Bill 2024 lapsed on 3 November 2026.¹³

Hemp seed foods have been legal to sell across Australia since 12 November 2017 and may contain no more than 75 mg/kg of CBD.¹⁴ They are a food, not a CBD product. See CBD oil vs hemp seed oil and industrial hemp in Australia.

Is Victoria moving towards legalisation?

A parliamentary committee reported on a personal-use cannabis bill on 18 March 2025. The government’s response did not support a model like the ACT’s.¹⁵ Cannabis outside the prescription system remains illegal in Victoria, and there is no lawful retail market for CBD. See cannabis legalisation in Australia.

What we could not confirm for Victoria

• Any Victorian approval or permit requirement for prescribing cannabis medicines, from the Department of Health’s own page.
• The current dollar value of the infringement fine for a THC presence offence.
• The results of the closed-track driving trial.

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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