Prescribers and road safety specialists in Victoria have collaborated to produce a practical guide aimed at helping doctors and patients work through the difficult questions surrounding medicinal cannabis use and driving.
The material has been published on the Transport Victoria website, outlining current regulations and detailing what doctors need to consider — and communicate to patients — prior to writing a medicinal cannabis prescription.
Road Safety Victoria and an "expert committee" drafted the guidance, which was subsequently reviewed and approved by a panel of GPs who prescribe medicinal cannabis.
Associate Professor Vicki Kotsirilos, one of the doctors involved in the committee, told newsGP, the in-house news portal of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), that the resources would offer meaningful support to prescribers across the country — not only those in Victoria — as they weigh treatment options with their patients.
"The information and resources are an excellent guide for conversations with our patients about driving," Kotsirilos said. "[They] support health professionals when deciding to prescribe medicinal cannabis, and if the patient chooses to drive."
Among the materials available are an 18-page "decision support tool" for health professionals and a factsheet intended for patients.
Kotsirilos said prescribers need to raise the subject of driving regulations early in consultations, along with how THC affects the body and a patient's capacity to drive safely.
"It is important we educate and well inform our patients about medicinal cannabis and how it impacts their driving," she said.
Although it remains an offence in Victoria for any driver to have THC present in their system, magistrates now have the discretion to permit a medicinal cannabis prescription holder to keep their driving licence, provided they were unimpaired at the time THC was detected and had been taking their medication in accordance with their doctor's instructions.
The updated rules took effect on March 1.