{"title": "NSW reforms expose Australia’s medicinal cannabis driving divide", "content": "\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The <a href=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/nsw-government-unveils-details-of-medicinal-cannabis-driving-reforms/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/nsw-government-unveils-details-of-medicinal-cannabis-driving-reforms/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sweeping changes to NSW's medicinal cannabis driving rules</a> have ramped up pressure on other Australian jurisdictions to follow a similar path. </em><strong><em>Yet a closer look reveals a country split down the middle, with some administrations pushing ahead on reform while others dig in on zero-tolerance approaches.</em></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There's a common assumption that once one government breaks from the pack on a policy issue, others tend to follow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cannabis regulation appears to be testing that theory.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Germany moved to partial legalisation of adult use in 2024, some observers predicted it would spark a wave of <a href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666776224000966\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666776224000966\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reform across the rest of Europe.</a> </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That prediction might still play out given how early things remain in Germany's post-prohibition experience. So far, though, no other major European nation has signalled it plans to follow the Bundestag's lead any time soon.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A comparable pattern is emerging around drug-driving rules in Australia, where every jurisdiction bar Tasmania continues to apply laws that disadvantage patients using prescribed medicinal cannabis. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Word that New South Wales has <a href=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/nsw-roads-minister-tables-common-sense-driving-reform-bill/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/nsw-roads-minister-tables-common-sense-driving-reform-bill/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">at last delivered substantive reform</a> – even if the changes <a href=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/driving-reforms-fail-to-address-doctor-patient-dilemma-prescriber-college-warns/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/driving-reforms-fail-to-address-doctor-patient-dilemma-prescriber-college-warns/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">left some stakeholders wanting more</a> – has sparked optimism that other states and territories might now follow suit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The question is whether they actually will. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We contacted governments across the country to find out exactly where each one stands.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Queensland tightens the screws</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than following NSW's example, Queensland is heading the other way, unveiling legislation to double penalties for drink and drug driving while explicitly ruling out any carve-out for medicinal cannabis patients.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“More than 60 per cent of drug driving fatalities had THC in their system,” Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The simple fact is that it’s not safe to drive while affected by THC. It impairs driving skills, it impairs users’ ability to judge their own impairment, and that could lead to devastating consequences for other road users.”</p>\n\n\n\n__IMAGE_BLOCK_0__\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tougher penalties come into force on December 1.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the government, a review ordered under the previous Labor administration turned up “no evidence to support any change.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The announcement muddies the waters somewhat, arriving only <a href=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/queensland-considering-changes-to-cannabis-driving-laws/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/queensland-considering-changes-to-cannabis-driving-laws/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">weeks after</a> Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads indicated it was “carefully considering recommendations following a review” of medicinal cannabis driving laws, which had fuelled speculation the state might mirror NSW. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Will Tregoning, chief executive of harm reduction group Unharm, a leading voice in the campaign for NSW's reforms, called the Queensland move “regressive”.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“[The moves are] fairly consistent with other cultural war type statements they have made around drug policy. It doesn’t look likely that this government will shift on the issue at all,” Tregoning said in an interview.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads did not respond when approached for comment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ACT bill sits with committee</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Australian Capital Territory, Greens MLA Andrew Braddock <a href=\"https://greens.org.au/act/news/media-release/act-greens-introduce-law-reform-medicinal-cannabis-patients\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://greens.org.au/act/news/media-release/act-greens-introduce-law-reform-medicinal-cannabis-patients\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tabled</a> the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Amendment Bill 2026 last month, with the committee accepting submissions until August ahead of an October report.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Braddock said his proposal goes beyond NSW's threshold-based approach, which he argued would fall foul of the ACT's Human Rights Act.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“My approach is all based around harmonisation with prescription medicines, like opioids and benzos,” he said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“You actually have to have a medical test in order to demonstrate actual impairment, rather than just relying on a saliva test with mere presence, which we don’t do for those drugs.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the NSW changes had made it “harder for ACT Labor to say no to the idea of reform”.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Debate on the bill is not expected until at least February or March 2027, Braddock said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>WA still stalling</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Legalise Cannabis WA MLC Brian Walker, Western Australia's Labor government has been holding onto a report from its medicinal cannabis driving working group for months without acting on it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The working group was set up following a 2023 parliamentary committee inquiry into cannabis and hemp, which concluded WA's zero-tolerance laws unfairly punished medicinal cannabis patients.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Walker, who led that committee, said its findings prompted the creation of a dedicated working group on THC and driving. That group reported back in December 2025, and its findings won approval from the Health Minister the following month.</p>\n\n\n\n__IMAGE_BLOCK_1__\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It was put on the desk of the Police Minister (Reece Whitby) in February and he’s been sitting on that since then,” Walker said in an interview.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Walker said the committee had determined the existing laws represented “a lie enshrined in law” and he believes draft legislation is already prepared, pending Whitby's sign-off.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They’ve known this for some two and a half years now,” he said. “I anticipate the legislation, which I suspect they’ve already put forward for debate, is waiting in the wings.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Walker said he has filed a Freedom of Information request for the working group's report after the government refused to hand it over.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A WA state government spokesperson said any changes to its legislation “are being carefully considered to make sure they are fit for purpose for Western Australia.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The Cook Labor Government is monitoring the rollout of laws in other jurisdictions before making a decision,” it said. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tasmania and Victoria offer two different templates</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tasmania has offered patients a full medical defence since 2016: a valid prescription lets them drive so long as they aren't impaired, with no set THC threshold to worry about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The system does impose particular administrative steps on drivers disqualified for a drug-related offence.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“As they may not be able to return a sample that is negative for drugs, they need to undergo a medical fitness to drive assessment and have their GP confirm in writing that they are aware of the prescribing and support the person’s return to driving,” a Building Tasmania spokesperson said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The spokesperson noted such cases were relatively few – 16 in the last quarter – and stressed that driving while impaired stays illegal regardless of whether someone holds a prescription.</p>\n\n\n\n__IMAGE_BLOCK_2__\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Victoria, meanwhile, <a href=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/carry-on-driving-courts-given-new-power-in-victoria-as-mandatory-ban-for-thc-presence-is-scrapped/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/carry-on-driving-courts-given-new-power-in-victoria-as-mandatory-ban-for-thc-presence-is-scrapped/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revised</a> its Road Safety Act back in November 2024, handing magistrates discretion to avoid disqualifying prescribed patients who test positive for THC but show no signs of impairment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The state is also conducting a closed-circuit track trial, run by Swinburne University, to study how THC affects driving ability. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Initially slated to wrap up by the end of 2024, <a href=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/victorian-cannabis-driving-trial-delayed-to-2027/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https://www.The Cannabis Observer/victorian-cannabis-driving-trial-delayed-to-2027/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the trial has faced repeated delays and is still underway.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>SA and NT show no signs of budging</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Australia's government has knocked back a recommendation from its own medicinal cannabis committee, tabled in 2024, to overhaul the state's Road Traffic Act.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Made up of six MPs from Labor, Liberal, the Greens and the crossbench, the committee unanimously called for driving with THC present to no longer be an offence where a patient holds a valid prescription, uses the product as directed, records zero blood alcohol and shows no impairment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A government spokesperson, however, said reform was “not something the South Australian Government is currently considering”.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tregoning said the government's stance caught him off guard.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“South Australia was a jurisdiction that was relatively progressive on drug policy until recently,” he said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“You’d think that, just on the inherent merits of the reform, it would go for it. I was a little surprised to see that there doesn’t seem to be that openness there.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much the same applies in the Northern Territory, where there's neither a bill nor a formal review currently before parliament.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The territory's Department of Logistics and Infrastructure said it takes part in the National Drug Driving Working Group and continues to “monitor and consider reform developments” happening elsewhere in Australia.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tregoning said what stood out most about the positions taken by governments such as South Australia and Queensland was how far “out of step” they were with other countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We have mass roadside testing for THC. No other country does that, except New Zealand, which recently started it but with a clear exemption for medicinal cannabis patients,” he said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Many other countries have let patients drive and that has operated successfully. People in politics are coming at this issue as if it was some unusual, strange idea, but in global terms this is a very normal thing. Australia is really the outlier.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There’s a range of different models that are tried and tested.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"></p>\n"}