Legalise Cannabis Victoria has called on the state government to move forward with its drug-driving trial following new Swinburne University research that detected no signs of driving impairment among medicinal cannabis patients in a simulated driving assessment.
Back in August, the government confirmed an off-road trial would commence this year and run for 18 months, but Legalise Cannabis MP David Ettershank said in an interview last month that little had changed since that announcement.
Ettershank and fellow MP Rachel Payne used Medicinal Cannabis Awareness Week as an opportunity to demand an end to the "systemic discrimination" that medicinal cannabis patients continue to face, despite legalisation occurring in 2016.
They said: "For too long patients have been denied access to their medication and the ability to drive… We know there is strong public support for a medicinal cannabis framework that puts patients first. The Allan government needs to explain why it continues to treat medicinal cannabis patients like criminals.
"This government has been accelerating drug-detection operations at public transport stations… Victoria Police receive no training on how to properly deal with medicinal cannabis patients, let alone how to sensitively deal with [those] identified by sniffer dogs.
"One year on from former Premier Andrews' commitment to reforming Victoria's driving laws as 'a priority', the government is yet to communicate any progress on their medicinal cannabis driving trial. Last week, Swinburne University released a study finding there to be negligible impact in simulated driving testing where patients took their medicinal cannabis as prescribed.
"The science is in… this government is out of excuses."
