Know Your Script
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Travel & flights · Australia-wide

Can I fly interstate with my prescribed medicinal cannabis?

The law is settled

The short answer

Yes. Carrying a lawfully prescribed medicine between Australian states and territories is permitted. The practical risk is not legality - it is failing to prove the medicine is yours at a screening point.

General information, not advice. This page describes the law as at the last-checked date shown at the foot of it. It does not take your circumstances into account, and small differences in circumstances change outcomes. If a decision turns on this, speak to someone qualified about your own situation.

What the law actually says

VERIFY Domestic carriage of a lawfully dispensed prescription medicine is not an offence under any state or territory drugs-and-poisons Act, because possession is authorised by the prescription. There is no Commonwealth domestic-travel permit. The Commonwealth traveller's exemption cited below governs bringing medicines INTO Australia, not moving them within it - do not cite it for a domestic flight.

What happens if it goes wrong

VERIFY A screening officer or police officer who is not satisfied the medicine is lawfully yours may detain it or refer the matter. Confirm current practice with each state's health department before publishing.

What to carry

  • The medicine in its original dispensed packaging, with the pharmacy label intact and legible.
  • Photo ID in the same name as the pharmacy label.
  • A copy of the prescription, or a letter from your prescriber, kept separately from the medicine.

What to say

  • State plainly that it is a prescribed medicine and offer the labelled packaging before it is asked for.
  • Name the medicine as it appears on the label rather than describing it in slang.

What not to do

  • Do not decant the medicine into an unlabelled container - the label is what makes possession provable.
  • Do not assume airline rules and screening rules are the same thing. They are set by different bodies.
  • Do not rely on this page for any international leg. Different countries jail people for this.

Sources

Cite this page

Know Your Script, ‘Flying interstate with prescribed medicinal cannabis’ (Australia-wide), https://www.knowyourscript.com.au/travel/flying-domestic/ (UNVERIFIED DRAFT — not checked, not for citation).

This page has not been checked by anyone. Please do not cite it.

Last checked: DRAFT — never verified