Australian CBD oil is derived from cannabis plants. It’s what you and your pals may possibly know as cannabidiol, a chemical found in cannabis that you’ll almost certainly have to attempt to say at least twice.

Although CBD may not make you high, it does not have the same effects as THC ( delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), its notorious counterpart.

To be clear, CBD is utilized for medical purposes and is not Reefer Madness. What kind of medical reasons are there? “It’s more a question of what it doesn’t do than what it does,” according to Dr Iain McGregor, Professor of Psychopharmacology.

What can CBD do for you?

The Doc says it was first discovered in the 1950s and 1960s (in modern times) and was dismissed as useless. That was, until the 1970s, when we rediscovered its antiepileptic properties again. But it wasn’t until recent years that people have become more aware and studied it extensively.

“It’s become this almost universal cure-all,” says Dr. Iain. CBD oil is supposed to help with a variety of ailments, including anxiety, anorexia, insomnia, PTSD, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, depression, migraines, and feeling chronically unmoved.”

Dr. Katrina Green, a neuropharmacologist at the University of Wollongong and an Associate Investigator with ACRE, points out that after 12 millennia of contact between humans and cannabis, our knowledge of this plant is still quite rudimentary.

“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’s interested in cannabidiol anti-inflammatory properties, especially since inflammation is at the root of so many diseases.“Low levels of inflammation are involved in body weight gain, if you pull a muscle…there’s such wide ranging benefits to anti-inflammatories.”

“There’s evidence, particularly in illnesses of the brain, that it does work,” she says. There’s evidence that cannabinoids can help with anxiety, ADHD, tics, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental illnesses. The evidence suggests that CBD has benefits for all of these things. CBD does not offer the same relief from pain as THC because you need THC to acquire any pain advantages.

CBD research, on the other hand, necessitates money, which scientists are notoriously short of. Ideally they’d be able to produce their own products in order to study them, but that would necessitate less government control.

What is legally available in Australia?

CBD oil is legal in Australia as of 2015, provided it contains at least 98 percent cannabidiol and no more than 2% other cannabinoids present in cannabis. When compared to a number of other countries, such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, we are quite lagging.

“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.

CBD is now available over-the-counter as a low dose CBD (maximum 150 mg daily dose) under Schedule 3 (prescription only), according to the FDA.

However, there are presently no ARTG-approved medications that fulfill the Schedule 3 criteria. And approval might take years.

How do you get Australian CBD oil?

Dr Lain explains “CBD got caught up in the whole medical cannabis legalisation thing that happened from late 2016” with this, there was a “torturous process” set up for Australians to access CBD, This method, which was also utilized by the various Australian states before the first medicinal cannabis products were cultivated, entails that you seek out a doctor who is knowledgeable about CBD and supports its usage. Then you’d need persuade them that CBD is appropriate for you in order to get their support, after which they’d have to create a complex application that would be sent to Canberra to the TGA, who would then decide whether or not it was legal.

The distinction now is that Authorised Prescribers (APs) do not have to apply to the TGA via the Special Access Scheme (SAS), and they can write you a prescription on the spot. These APs may be specialists or GPs, but there isn’t currently a complete list available, so your best bet is to start making some inquiries. Obviously, if you take that route, there’s the issue of cost; it’d be prohibitive for most individuals. At around $10-$15 per day.

According to Dr Iain, by 2020, out of the permissions granted in total over three years, he expects that around 20,000 patients will have gained access lawfully (when you account for prescription renewals throughout that time).“And there’s probably 10 times more people — certainly from our surveys — that are accessing illicit cannabis and self-medicating.”

The government and researchers are aware that a significant number of individuals in Australia are choosing to avoid the existing system by spending their money overseas. However, there are indications that prices will fall because there is an increasingly competitive market for it.

There are already a slew of foreign firms looking to sell to Australians. “They see it as perhaps the fastest growing market in the world, even though it’s 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, according to both experts, is that a stringent regimen usually results in high-quality product control.“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.”

Furthermore, because the amounts of CBD in most over-the-counter pills will be limited, the average dose you’ll receive here will be even lower. So, if an oil has 30 milligrams per mil, your normal daily dose is probably less than 100 milligrams of CBD. Clinical trials and research, on the other hand, suggest that effective doses for conditions like anxiety and madness are usually much higher – up to 500-1000 milligrams – which raises the question: Dr Iain asks “Even if we get the over the counter products available in Australia, will they actually be any good?”

Do you believe the hype of Australian CBD oil?

Dr Iain says to “watch the hype.” He then goes on to describe when coca was initially created, when people believed it would be a wonderful cure for opium addiction and that it could simply be mixed in any fizzy beverage. “You always get this huge hype [around new drugs] and you do have to let research run its course. Big clinical trials take several years so complete; five years from now we’ll know a lot more about CBD and it’s potentials and limitations.”

There’s also the placebo effect to consider, so after weeks of usage, the shine may fade and the cost may appear less worthwhile.

“The hype is almost certainly wrong. The idea that it’s just a placebo is almost certainly wrong, as well. So the truth is somewhere in between. What we have to do as scientists is work out what that truth actually is.”

As a neuroscientist, Dr Katrina is particularly interested in the developing brain and cannabidiol short- and long-term effects on it. “A lot of people say that CBD is non-psychoactive but psychoactive is defined as something that interacts with the brain and changes behaviour. Now that applies to THC, alcohol, heroin, whatever. CBD is absolutely psychoactive, it’s just psychoactive in a good way.”

“What is concerning…as CBD becomes more available companies will inevitably jump on board to try and make a dollar out of it. This is the hype that I’m concerned about,” she says.

When it comes to cannabis and youth, Dr. Katrina has some advice: “When it comes to younger brains and an increasingly lax attitude toward marijuana products, I’m afraid we need to be quite cautious.” “Just remember cannabidiol is a medicine.”

“We’re saying that it’s beneficial for all of these illnesses, it’s not just a wellness substance like a vitamin C.” She recommends only taking it if you actually need to for genuine dysfunction or illness, not as a supplement, and to exercise “a little bit of caution when ordering things from overseas or using as a daily tonic”