MEDIA RELEASE
NSW moves to end ban that forced patients to choose between medicine and mobility
4.6.26
The NSW Government will introduce legislation to lift a ban that stops hundreds of thousands of medicinal cannabis patients from driving, even when they are not impaired.
Under the current law, a prescribed patient with any trace of THC commits a driving offence, whether or not the medication affects their driving. The reform replaces that blanket ban with a system that no longer automatically penalises patients who drive unimpaired.
A patient who tests below the threshold will face no charges. A patient above the threshold would receive a warning, not an immediate penalty, giving them the chance to adjust their dose and driving before any offence applies.
“This reform will be welcomed by thousands of medicinal cannabis patients across NSW,” said Dr Will Tregoning, CEO of Unharm. “Patients tell us constantly about the toll of these outdated laws – jobs lost, independence lost, the impossible choice between their health and their licence. Reforming this law is also good for road safety: in some cases the current law has made roads less safe by forcing patients off medication that was helping them sleep.”
Unharm campaigns for drug laws that support health and safety. We have campaigned for this reform and warmly welcome the announcement. These changes are long overdue for patients who have been penalised simply for following their doctor’s orders. We look forward to working through the details of the legislation to make sure it gives patients genuine confidence about when they are safe to drive – while supporting road safety for everyone.
A law that can work against road safety
Retired soldier Michael “Mick” James served 15 years in the Australian Army and uses medicinal cannabis to manage PTSD and chronic pain. He was fined $600 at a roadside stop, despite not having used his medication for more than 12 hours. He has stopped driving since – and in regional NSW, that has cost him the community connections that supported his recovery.
“I hadn’t taken my medication for over 12 hours. I was not impaired. Yet under NSW law I was treated like a criminal,” said James. “Cannabis makes me safer on the roads, not riskier.”
Patients like James often use medicinal cannabis to sleep better – a major factor in road safety. “Fatigue and tiredness as a result of sleep deprivation is one of the leading contributors to road deaths. As a former medicolegal expert in dangerous driving cases, I’ve seen the carnage it causes first hand,” said sleep specialist and medicinal cannabis prescriber Dr Dev Banerjee. “Getting better sleep will make patients and the public safer on the roads.”
The science is clear
“THC can be detected in the body for weeks after cannabis use – but our research shows impairment typically clears within hours, and is often minimal in people taking cannabis for medical reasons,” said Professor Iain McGregor, Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney. “We’ve also shown that THC concentrations in blood and saliva are poor and inconsistent indicators of impairment. Prosecuting patients on the basis of THC presence in saliva, long after any effect has worn off, is manifestly unjust.”
Dr Danielle McCartney, whose research at the Lambert Initiative tested driving performance in controlled studies measuring reaction time, coordination and hazard perception after cannabis use, said the science was consistent and clear.
“The best predictor of whether someone is impaired is not whether THC is in their body – it’s how much time has passed since they used cannabis,” Dr McCartney said. “Across the research, most driving ability returns within five to seven hours after inhaled cannabis, and eight to ten hours after oral products.”
Patients punished for following their doctor’s orders
Over 100,000 people in NSW hold a medicinal cannabis prescription. Under the current law, the mere presence of THC can mean fines, licence suspension, loss of insurance coverage, and often loss of employment – not for dangerous driving, but for having prescribed medicine in their system.
“I sentenced hundreds of defendants under this law as a NSW magistrate,” said former magistrate SCU Professor David Heilpern. “They were not impaired. They were patients following their doctor’s advice. There is no legal defence available to them. That is not a road safety measure – it is a relic from an era when this medicine was illegal.”
NRL great Andrew “Joey” Johns, widely regarded as the greatest rugby league player of all time, said the current law made no sense.
“I’ve been taking medicinal cannabis for over six years now. It’s been a game-changer – for seizures, for inflammation, for sleep,” Johns said. “I take it around eight at night, I’m asleep by ten, and I wake up the next morning clear-headed. If you use it responsibly there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to drive. That’s just common sense.”
The reform also matters deeply to the veterans community. Jason Frost, a former Australian Army soldier and founder of Pro Patria, a veterans health service in Wagga Wagga, said the ban was stopping vulnerable veterans from accessing a treatment that could change their lives.
“I served 16 years in the Australian Army before medically separating with chronic pain and other injuries. I’d been through every opioid, sedative and antidepressant the system had to offer. Medicinal cannabis was the first thing that worked. But the law tells me I can’t legally drive on it – even though driving is my only connection to my family, my community, and the veterans I serve through Pro Patria. Every day I see veterans on multiple medications who won’t even try medicinal cannabis because they’re afraid of losing their licence. People who’ve already sacrificed so much, forced to go without a treatment that could change their lives.”
A matter of basic fairness
“Every other prescription medicine that can affect driving allows patients to make an evidence-based decision with their doctor about when it is safe to drive. Medicinal cannabis patients are the only exception – and there is no principled basis for that exception. A law that punishes conduct that causes no harm is not a road safety measure. It needs to go,” said Timothy Roberts, President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.
Alice Salomon, Uniting NSW.ACT’s Head of Advocacy, said: “This Bill is a welcome step forward for the people of NSW – especially those outside the city who rely on their licences for work and caring responsibilities. This reform is long overdue. We still await the full scope of reforms to our unfair drug laws recommended in the NSW Drug Summit Report.”
Regional communities bear the brunt
The impact falls hardest outside Sydney, where driving is the only way to reach work, healthcare, and family. Unharm is calling on regional MPs – whose constituents are writing to them in support – to back the legislation when it comes to the vote.
Unharm campaigns to reform drug laws, replace punishment with health focused support, and reduce the social harms caused by prohibition.
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