We agree. No one should drive under the influence of any drug. This reform keeps strong laws against impaired driving in place. It simply ends the blanket ban that punishes unimpaired, responsible patients using legally prescribed medicine.

No. This reform keeps strong laws against driving while impaired. It simply means responsible patients with a valid medicinal cannabis prescription can keep driving when they are unimpaired, just like people prescribed any other medicine. Safety remains the priority.

We share her grief. No one should lose a loved one because someone chose to drive impaired. That’s why we fully support effective laws against driving under the influence. But the current NSW law doesn’t measure impairment at all – it punishes people days after any effect has worn off. Real safety means targeting and removing impaired drivers, not banning responsible patients from the road.

No. THC residue in saliva is not the same as impairment. Roadside tests can detect it days or even weeks after use, long after any effect on driving has passed. The science is clear: the mere presence of THC does not reliably predict crash risk.

International evidence shows no link between legal medicinal cannabis programs and increased road fatalities. Real-world crash risk comes from impairment – just like with alcohol or fatigue. Presence-based laws don’t improve safety because they target people who aren’t impaired.

Absolutely not. Driving impaired by any substance – cannabis, alcohol, or anything else – is never acceptable. That’s why this reform keeps strict impairment laws in place. Research does not show that the mere presence of THC increases crash risk. There is no evidence of increased road trauma caused by THC residue once the impairment window has passed, and no coronial reports linking THC presence alone to causing crashes. For perspective, driving after less than six hours’ sleep or being over 75 years old carries comparable or higher risks.

Medicinal cannabis prescribing is tightly regulated in Australia, with medical oversight and official approvals. If misuse happens, that’s a health regulation issue – not a reason to punish genuine patients through road laws. We don’t take away medicines from all patients because a few might abuse the system.

Doctors and health authorities already have safeguards to detect and address fraud. NSW Police already have standard operating procedures to identify legitimate prescriptions for any medication, and specific procedures for checking medical cannabis prescriptions. Road laws should focus solely on keeping impaired drivers off the road, not policing medical legitimacy.

Police already have procedures to check medicinal cannabis prescriptions in other situations. The only barrier for roadside stops is the Road Transport Act’s blanket THC offence. If that restriction is removed, police can simply use the same existing training and systems to check prescriptions during roadside stops, just as they already do in other situations.

There’s no evidence that testing for THC residue alone improves road safety. Responsible patients who are safe to drive already do so every day without causing increased crashes.

Laws work best when they’re fair and targeted. Punishing responsible drivers undermines trust and wastes resources. Education about impairment and responsible use is a more effective way to keep roads safe.

There’s been confusion about Victoria’s recent change. Despite some public claims, medicinal cannabis patients in Victoria are still banned from driving with any detectable THC in their system. The only change is that magistrates now have discretion, for a first offence only, to waive the automatic licence disqualification – something NSW magistrates already have. In practice, patients can still be charged, lose their licence while awaiting court, have their cars impounded, and face thousands in costs, even if the magistrate later returns their licence. The harms remain.

Yes. In Tasmania, people with a valid prescription have a legal defence to the ‘presence’ offence, meaning they can drive when unimpaired. Several countries, including the UK, Germany, and Ireland, also have medical exemptions or impairment-based systems. These approaches have not led to an increase in road trauma