Alex Greenwich To Introduce Driving Reforms For Medical Cannabis Users

Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich will today move a motion to legislate a legal defence for drivers taking medically prescribed cannabis, after first calling for reforms in September.

Earlier this year, Greenwich disclosed his own cannabis prescription and penned a joint letter with other MPs calling on Premier Chris Minns to introduce exemptions for medical cannabis users from the offence of driving with the presence of the drug in their system.

“We shouldn’t have a situation where people are being forced between choosing to take their prescription or working, or between taking their prescription and going to visit a loved one,” he said at the time.

“Under proposed models, NSW Police will continue to have the ability to charge people who are driving impaired, but if you’re not impaired and THC is just lingering in your system – you shouldn’t have to end up in court or have your license suspended.”

The proposed legislation would allow drivers who return a positive cannabis test to have the offence overturned in court on medical grounds.

Currently, drivers with detectable levels of THC in their saliva, blood, or urine are committing an offence under NSW’s Road and Transport Act, despite the fact THC can last for days, or sometimes weeks, in the body.

Police minister says issue is “extremely complex”

A legislated medical defence for drivers using medically prescribed cannabis was one of the recommendations to come out of the state’s drug summit last year, although it was one of six recommendations the government chose not to adopt when they responded in October.

At the time, Police Minister Yasmin Catley told the ABC that the matter was “extremely complex”.

“We need to make sure we get it right, and we must do that because lives could be at risk,” she said.

“Our road toll is increasing and we want to make sure we put in place a process or a policy that will address those people who we know use medicinal cannabis to assist them.”

In June, an inquiry from the Legislative Council into the impacts of the regulatory framework for cannabis found current criminal regulation of cannabis is failing to reduce use, criminalising users, and forcing them to access cannabis through illicit markets fuelling organised crime.

The report also recommended the state government develop and expand the domestic medicinal cannabis sector, remove the potential of custodial sentences for adults found in possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal use, and review the impact of decriminalisation in the hopes of creating a safe, regulated, and accessible statewide market for legal cannabis.

The bill will be introduced in parliament on Thursday, with the NSW government saying it would consider the bill on merit.