Australia countries/au/index.yaml
It depends on the state. ACT Policing states that an adult may possess up to 50 g of dried … pplicable across Australia, including in the ACT, and that police may use it.[@actpolice] The 2020 Territory reform is traced in the [ACT legalisation](/history/australia-act-legalises-2020/).
Even in the ACT it is an offence to give or sell cannabis to another person; plants and harvest are for the grower only.[@conv,ct]
Federal licences cover cultivation and manufacture of medicinal cannabis and exports; hemp is licensed by the states.[@tga] No adult-use production.
tga, wiki
A wide range of prescription flower, oils, vapes and edibles in the medical channel, almost all 'unapproved' products supplied under special-access rules. Nothing for general sale.
tga
Among the easiest medical systems to use: any doctor can prescribe through the special-access or authorised-prescriber pathways with no fixed list of conditions.[@tga] A wide range of prescription flower, oils, vapes and edibles moves through the medical channel, almost all 'unapproved' products under special-access rules, with nothing for general sale.[@tga] Not subsidised, and regulators have been tightening telehealth prescribing.[@tga]
tga, wiki
Victoria removed automatic licence bans for eligible unimpaired medicinal-cannabis drivers in March 2025.[@aap26] NSW Act 33 of 2026 received assent on 23 September 2026, but commencement of its patient scheme was not established in this review.[@nswReform26,nswParliament26] The announced scheme requires a prescription, registration and education, excludes learner, provisional and commercial drivers, and retains a 24-hour ban after a positive roadside test.[@nswReform26] Queensland Act 23 of 2026 received assent on 21 September 2026, with new presence-offence fine provisions commencing on 1 December 2026.[@qldAct26,qldCommence26]
Even in the Australian Capital Territory, where adults may grow two plants, selling or supplying cannabis seeds is illegal and there is no legal way to obtain them; the only lawful cannabis is what a resident grows.[@adf] Commonwealth law is unchanged, and elsewhere in Australia growing is an offence or a fine.[@adf]
Road law belongs to the states, and the general model is a presence offence: detected THC can be enough without proof of impairment.[@aap26] Victoria removed automatic licence bans for eligible unimpaired medicinal-cannabis drivers in March 2025.[@aap26] NSW Act 33 of 2026 received assent on 23 September, but commencement of its patient scheme was not established in this review; the government expected rollout in late 2026 or early 2027.[@nswReform26,nswParliament26] Its announced scheme requires a prescription, registration and education, excludes learner, provisional and commercial drivers, and retains a 24-hour ban after a positive roadside test.[@nswReform26] Laboratory THC below 50 ng/ml would bring no further action; the first two detections at or above that level within two years would bring warnings, and the third a $722 fine and a minimum three-month suspension.[@nswReform26] Impaired driving and mixed-drug offences remain punishable.[@aap26] Queensland Act 23/2026 received assent on 21 September, with new presence-offence fine provisions commencing on 1 December 2026.[@qldAct26,qldCommence26] Its further testing and suspension amendments still awaited proclamation in the reviewed legislative history.[@qldCommence26]
No cannabis clubs operate legally anywhere in Australia. When the Australian Capital Terri … , made the model unworkable, and the law as passed lets a person grow only for themselves.[@ct19,conv] Giving cannabis to another person remains an offence even there.[@ct]
In the ACT, selling, sharing or giving cannabis is an offence, so a visitor has no lawful adult-use purchase there.[@actpolice] The sources behind this profile describe no separate rule for visitors.
The national Illicit Drug Data Report counted 66,285 cannabis arrests in Australia in 2020-21, 14% fewer than the year before.[@nceta] Nine in ten were consumer arrests, for possession or use, and one in ten were provider arrests, for supply.[@nceta]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 5,312 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 6,372 kg in 2023, and 55.2 kg of cannabis resin seized in 2024, against 53.9 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr]
StratCann — Australian Senate rejects cannabis legalization bill (27 Nov 2024)
Business Queensland — Growing industrial cannabis or hemp in Queensland
Nimbin MardiGrass — 2008 programme (XVI)
NZ Drug Foundation — Mythbusters: P and tinny houses (1 Feb 2007)
Wikipedia — Cannabis in Australia
23 unchanged
AUD
label ACT adult exemption (50 g dried or 150 g fresh) · treatment legal · term Personal use · note 18 and over, in the ACT; no sharing or sale; Commonwealth law still applies, label Simple cannabis offence (South Australia, expiation) · treatment civil · term Personal use · fine 400 · note From $250 under 25 g to $400 for 25–100 g, label Cannabis Intervention Requirement (Western Australia) · treatment civil · term Personal use · note One-off requirement for use or up to 10 g; the offence stays criminal, label Criminal possession elsewhere · treatment criminal · term Possession · note Charges remain available in every state; amounts and tariffs vary
AUD
label ACT home grow (one or two plants, household maximum four) · treatment legal · term Personal use · note 18 and over, at home, no public access, no artificial cultivation; plants and harvest for the grower only, label One non-hydroponic plant (South Australia, expiation) · treatment civil · term Personal use · fine 400, label General cultivation (Northern Territory example) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 2 years · note Under traffickable quantity: 200 penalty units or two years; five or more plants is traffickable
Adult use is partly decriminalised, not legal: the ACT exempts possession and home growing, other states and territories answer small amounts with expiation fees, cautions or diversion, and no jurisdiction has lawful sales.[@actpolice,conv] A federal Greens bill to legalise and regulate recreational cannabis was voted down 13–24 in the Senate in November 2024.[@stratcann24] The federal vote is traced in the [Senate rejection](/history/australia-senate-rejects-legalisation-2024/).
actpolice, conv, stratcann24
high
Hemp is a state-licensed crop, not a Commonwealth one: growers hold state licences for cultivation and processing, with crops capped at about 1% THC — Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia each run their own licensing Acts and approved-seed rules.[@qldhemp]
qldhemp
A foil-wrapped deal is a tinny in New Zealand and a foilie in Australia, sold from ordinary-looking tinny houses to anyone with cash — a trade researchers found drew younger and more Maori buyers without spreading harder drugs, deflating a 2000s panic that the houses pushed methamphetamine.[@nzdf07] Its vocabulary is traced in [tinny](/culture/language/tinny/). Nimbin in New South Wales calls itself the cannabis capital: its MardiGrass protest-carnival has run every May since 1993 — the sixteenth was in 2008 — vowing to repeat until prohibition ends.[@mardi08] Its story is traced in [Nimbin MardiGrass](/culture/traditions/nimbin-mardigrass/) and the federal [2023 bill](/history/australia-legalising-cannabis-bill-2023/) and [2024 rejection](/history/australia-senate-rejects-legalisation-2024/).
nzdf07, mardi08