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​​Flying High Over the Holidays? 

a picture of an airplane flying near the woods

It’s that time of year again. Schools and universities are winding up for the year, offices are announcing their Christmas parties, and families around the country are planning their time away with family and friends.

Speaking of family, the holidays can be a difficult time for a lot of people, and perhaps one of the more important times to ensure you do not run out of medication. While travelling with prescription medication is generally straightforward, that is still unfortunately not the case when travelling with medicinal cannabis products. We are here to ensure you have your medication throughout the holiday period, and to help offer some guidance on the rules of travelling with prescribed cannabis products.

For travels within Australia, medicinal cannabis prescribed by a doctor is completely legal to have on your person, as long as it remains in its original packaging, and has the pharmacy dispensing label with your name on it attached. This means that you are safe and within your rights to travel interstate with your cannabis medication. It is always a good idea to ensure you have some supporting documentation, like a copy of the prescription, a medical summary from your clinic, or an official pharmacy receipt, just in case one of the guards at security is not up to date with regulations and thinks they may get a promotion for confiscating something other than a bottle of lotion.

For international travels, there’s a lot more to navigate taking into account destination country laws, airline rules and airport regulations – Astrid has created a series of exclusive travel guides for you to download: astrid.health/trips/

  • TRIPS Series 1 gives you insight into prescription medicine laws when travelling to the UK, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands
  • TRIPS Series 2 explores New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan

A reminder that if you require any more clarification, reach out to the local embassy for the most updated regulations, or have a look on https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/ when planning your journey. Safe travels and happy holidays.