A call has gone out to NSW Premier Chris Minns to take action on outdated NSW road laws that effectively ban medicinal cannabis patients from driving even if they haven’t used cannabis for days.
Penington Institute CEO John Ryan has written to the NSW premier to ask that the law be changed to allow medicinal cannabis patients to drive if they are using their medication as prescribed and are not impaired by it while driving.
Medical cannabis patients ‘should not be forced to choose between their medicine and their mobility,’ Mr Ryan says in the letter.
Under current laws, it is illegal for a person to drive with medicinal cannabis in their system in all states and territories except Tasmania, even if they are driving responsibly and are not impaired by the drug. However, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis, can linger in a person’s system for weeks and can be detected long after any potential impairment has occurred.
NSW Drug Summit
With Nimbin being the home of the Hemp Embassy and MardiGrass and the Northern Rivers being a key part of the campaign to legalise medicinal cannabis this is an issue that is close to many locals hearts and minds.
‘Uniting’s Fair Treatment campaign has strong connections with the Northern Rivers community and these issues to do with drug driving laws for people using medicinal cannabis are ones that have been raised many, many times in discussions with the community,’ Emma Maiden, Uniting NSW.ACT’s Director of Advocacy and External Relations told The Echo
‘It was also an issue that was discussed at length during the NSW Drug Summit last year, and during the Cannabis Inquiry.
‘The Co-Chairs of the 2024 NSW Drug Summit will shortly hand their report to the NSW government and expectations are high across the sector, and in the community, that the government will respond quickly, with a raft of positive drug law reforms.
‘We are hopeful that the NSW Drug Summit report will, amongst other important measures, recommend that the government address the issues surrounding the current drug driving laws in NSW.
‘Any positive changes to our unfair drug laws in NSW are always welcome.’
Victoria recently changed its road laws to give magistrates discretion to decide whether to impose a fine or a license suspension on drivers who tested positive for THC in cases where the driver had used medicinal cannabis in line with doctor advice and was not impaired by it.
‘Nobody should drive while they are impaired by any substance, including prescribed drugs such as medicinal cannabis,’ said Mr Ryan.
‘But patients who are not impaired and are using medicinal cannabis as directed by their doctor pose little if any safety risk and should be treated accordingly’
Mr Ryan then urged Premier Minns ‘to address this inequity between medicinal cannabis patients and those who are prescribed other medications’.
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