Medical marijuana is legal in Australia, but you can’t simply walk into a dispensary and buy it. Since 2016, medicinal cannabis has been available through a regulated prescription system overseen by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Getting access requires a doctor’s approval and, in most cases, a separate government authorization before a prescription can be filled. The system has grown rapidly, with hundreds of thousands of approvals granted through the main access pathway.
How the Legal Framework Works
Medicinal cannabis products, including oral liquids, capsules, sprays, and dried flower, are regulated as therapeutic goods under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. However, the vast majority of these products are classified as “unapproved,” meaning they haven’t been formally assessed by the TGA for safety, quality, or effectiveness. Only two cannabis-based medicines are fully registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods: nabiximols (a mouth spray for multiple sclerosis spasticity) and a CBD product for seizures associated with Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes.
Everything else, which covers over 800 different products currently available to prescribe, requires patients and their doctors to go through a special access pathway. Recreational cannabis remains illegal across Australia.
How Patients Get a Prescription
There are two main routes to access medicinal cannabis: the Special Access Scheme Category B (SAS-B) and the Authorised Prescriber scheme. SAS-B is the most common. Your doctor submits an application to the TGA for each individual patient, providing clinical justification for why standard medications aren’t suitable. Applications are typically processed within two to five days and are assessed by a registered medical practitioner or pharmacist at the TGA.
If your doctor doesn’t have experience prescribing medicinal cannabis or treating your specific condition, they need a letter of support from an appropriate specialist. The application must summarize your past treatments, explain why approved medicines aren’t working, and weigh expected benefits against potential risks.
The Authorised Prescriber scheme works differently. Once a doctor gains AP status for a specific condition, they can prescribe medicinal cannabis to multiple patients without submitting individual applications to the TGA each time. This streamlines repeat access but still requires the doctor to consider approved treatments first, obtain informed consent, and report any adverse events.
Telehealth consultations are technically permitted, but the national medical regulator, Ahpra, has flagged that a proper assessment, including social, mental health, and substance use history, cannot be achieved in a short online consultation. This means a thorough initial appointment is expected regardless of the format.
Conditions Commonly Treated
There is no fixed list of approved conditions. Doctors can apply for medicinal cannabis for any condition where they can provide clinical justification. In practice, chronic non-cancer pain accounts for nearly half of all approved prescriptions. This type of pain, defined as daily pain lasting longer than three months, affects roughly one in five Australian adults.
Anxiety is another major category, with over 45,000 approvals for THC-containing products for anxiety treatment through mid-2024. This is notable because the TGA’s own guidance states that THC-containing products are “generally not appropriate” for patients with active mood or anxiety disorders. Other conditions with reasonable supporting evidence include neuropathic pain, spasticity from multiple sclerosis, and certain treatment-resistant epilepsies in children.
Product Categories and What’s Available
Medicinal cannabis products fall into five categories based on their ratio of CBD to total cannabinoid content. Category 1 products are almost pure CBD (98% or more of total cannabinoids), while Category 5 products contain less than 2% CBD, making them predominantly THC. Categories 2 through 4 sit along the spectrum between these extremes, with balanced products (roughly equal CBD and THC) falling into Category 3.
Category 5 (THC-dominant) products are the most commonly prescribed, with over 203,000 approvals granted through May 2024. Category 1 (high-CBD) products accounted for about 81,560 approvals in the same period. Products come in several forms: oral liquids, capsules, dried flower for vaporizing, and sprays.
What It Costs
Medicinal cannabis is not subsidized under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which means you pay the full cost out of pocket. Weekly expenses range from $50 to $1,000 depending on your condition, the product prescribed, and the dose. That translates to roughly $200 to $4,000 per month at the upper end, making it a significant ongoing expense for many patients. Consultation fees with your doctor are separate from the cost of the medication itself.
Driving With a Prescription
This is one of the most important practical issues for patients, and the rules create a real tension. In most Australian states, it is illegal to drive with any detectable amount of THC in your system, even if you have a valid prescription. A prescription is not a defence against a positive roadside drug test. Since THC can remain detectable long after any impairing effects have worn off, patients using THC-containing products face the risk of losing their licence even when they are not impaired.
CBD-only products are treated differently. Patients taking cannabidiol-only medicines can legally drive, provided they are not impaired.
Victoria introduced a partial change from March 2025: while driving with any THC detected remains an offence, magistrates now have discretion over whether to cancel a driver’s licence when the person is using prescribed medicinal cannabis. This doesn’t make it legal to drive with THC in your system, but it softens the penalty in some cases. Other states have not yet adopted similar provisions, so the consequences of a positive test vary depending on where you live.
Travelling With Medicinal Cannabis
Carrying prescribed medicinal cannabis across state lines within Australia is legally complicated. Each state and territory has its own requirements around possession of cannabis medicines, and some require a prescription from a doctor registered in that specific jurisdiction. A small quantity of legally prescribed and dispensed medication would likely be allowed, but this isn’t guaranteed.
If you plan to travel domestically with medicinal cannabis, keep the medication in its original pharmacy packaging, carry your prescription or a letter from your doctor describing the product and quantity, and contact the health department of your destination state before you travel. International travel with medicinal cannabis carries even stricter restrictions and varies by country.