CBD in Australia
Australia’s CBD market is highly restrictive, although regulations are under review. This page includes all of our detailed full-length Australian market and regulatory reports, as well as both business and regulatory briefings covering current updates from the country, as well as our daily alerts.
Business briefing
Regulatory reports
Medical and recreational cannabis – a global overview
10th May 2021
Industry potential for hemp and CBD can be seen as Australia starts to relax certain regulations
CBD is listed on the Controlled Drug Register in Australia, meaning that it cannot be sold as a consumer product. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has announced an interim decision to enable access to CBD products through pharmacies, but without practitioners’ oversight, from 1st June 2021.
At a national level, there is no overriding law that deals with low-THC hemp cultivation; instead, each state and territory enacted its own legislation. Low-THC hemp can be grown in a number of Australian states, under strict licence conditions for seeds or fibre (not usually both) issued by the relevant state government. Hemp cannot be farmed for the purpose of extracting CBD.
The country has previously spoken of its ambition to become a market leader in the creation of pharmaceutical cannabis products and remained one of the largest “Western” markets to place heavy restrictions on consumer use of CBD.
