What’s the deal with getting and using CBD oil in Australia? – ABC News

What you and your mates potentially know as CBD oil is actually cannabidiol, a compound found in cannabis/word youll probably have to try pronounce at least twice.
Youve probably met its mate, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (aka THC aka the one that makes you wicked high) but CBD will not get you stoned. (Unless youve got it from somewhere slightly dodgy and youre not 100% sure about the THC content).
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So to be clear, CBD is used for medical reasons and NOT Reefer Madness. What kind of medical reasons? According to Dr Iain McGregor, Professor of Psychopharmacology, Its more a case of what it doesnt do rather than what it does.
Whats CBD good for?
It was first discovered in the 50s and 60s (in modern times) and was basically thought to be useless, says the Doc. That was, until the 70s, when we rediscovered its antiepileptic effects. But it really wasnt until the past four or five years that theres been a real increase in awareness and research.
Its become this almost universal panacea, says Dr Iain. Depending on who you ask, CBD oil is good for what ails you, whether that be anxiety, anorexia, insomnia, PTSD, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, depression, migraines, or feeling chronically unchill.
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Neuropharmacologist, University of Wollongong lecturer and Associate Investigator with ACRE, Dr Katrina Green, also notes that after 12,000 years of interaction between humans and cannabis, our understanding of this plant is still very much in its infancy.
CBD is obviously pretty important. Its anti-inflammatory capacity and its ability to protect the brain is evident in almost every study that you pick up.
She finds these anti-inflammatory effects, even in low doses of cannabidiol, especially exciting since inflammation kind of underlies everything. Low levels of inflammation are involved in body weight gain, if you pull a muscle…theres such wide ranging benefits to anti-inflammatories.
Theres evidence, particularly in illnesses of the brain, that it does work, she says. So depression, anxiety, ADHD, tourettes, PTSD, different aspects of psychosis for those type of things the evidence consistently shows that theres benefits. CBD is not as great with pain, she says, because you kind of need THC to get any pain benefits.
But CBD research takes money, something which scientists are notoriously short on. And ideally theyd be able to grow their own products here to research but that would take less regulation, something which governments are notoriously fond of.
So, whats legally available in Australia?
As of 2015 CBD oil is legal in Australia, as long as it contains at least 98% cannabidiol and 2% or less of other cannabinoids found in cannabis. When compared to a lot of other countries, like the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, UK, Netherlands, were quite behind.
Surprisingly the government particularly the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which regulates how drugs are marketed and available to consumers seem to be listening, says Dr Iain.
Earlier this year the Department of Health put in a proposal for CBD to change from Schedule 4 (prescription only) to Schedule 3, which would make it available over the counter at your local pharmacy. This could happen as early as February 2021.
How do you actually get CBD oil?
CBD got caught up in the whole medical cannabis legalisation thing that happened from late 2016, Dr Iain explains. As part of that, there was a torturous process set up for Australians to access CBD, whereby you have to go through a doctor, you need to hope said doctor is educated about CBD and is in favour of its use, then you need to persuade them that CBD is right for you, then they need to write a complicated application and send that off to Canberra to the TGA who would then decide either way.
Then, of course, if you do get approved theres the issue of cost, which is prohibitive for a lot of people. Sitting at about $10-$15 a day, youd probably find its cheaper to grow your own (and a lot of people do).
Out of the approvals issued in total in over three years, Dr Iain estimates that about 20,000 patients gained access legally (when you take into account the prescription renewals throughout that time). And theres probably 10 times more people certainly from our surveys that are accessing illicit cannabis and self-medicating.
“We try and just look at this as a health issue and as a human rights issue.”
So yeah, the government and researchers are well aware that a lot of people in Australia are opting to bypass the current system and spend their money offshore, buying online from places like Canada and the US. But there are signs that prices will go down, since obviously theres an increasingly competitive market for it.
Already theres countless overseas companies taking an interest in selling to Aussies. They see it as perhaps the fastest growing market in the world, even though its a small population the numbers add up, says Dr Iain.
The main thing we need is a really vibrant domestic market. It grows particularly well in Australia the stuff just jumps out of the ground!
The good news in all of this, agree both experts, is that that strict regime tends to ensure high quality control of the product. By being careful and quite well regulated the Australian scheme is probably going to give rise to very good products that will have a lot of export potential, says Dr Iain. The unfortunate thing is, Australian consumers are having to wait a very long time to get these products and at a reasonable price.
After Grace was diagnosed with cancer, she turned to medicinal cannabis. But getting it legally was a challenge, so she’s sticking with the black market and experts say her experience is common.
On top of that, your average over the counter product thatll be available here will have relatively low concentrations of CBD. So, if youre getting an oil that has maybe 30 milligrams per mil, your average daily dose is probably less than 100 milligrams of CBD. However, clinical trials and research suggest that effective doses for things like anxiety and psychosis tend to be a lot higher, they tend to be up around 500-1000 milligrams, which causes Dr Iain beg the question: Even if we get the over the counter products available in Australia, will they actually be any good?
Should you believe the hype?
Dr Iain says to watch the hype. He points to when cocaine was first invented, when they thought it would be a great cure for opium addiction and you could just chuck it in any old fizzy drink. You always get this huge hype

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