Last week on ABC’s 7.30, NSW’s drug driving laws were finally dragged into the spotlight. It should have been a conversation about evidence and safety. Instead, it revealed exactly how unjust and broken the current law really is.

A system that punishes the innocent

The NRMA and other opponents of reform came out publicly calling on the government to keep these laws exactly as they are. They want to preserve a system that bans anyone with even a trace of THC residue in their system from driving.

It doesn’t matter if that THC comes from legally prescribed medicine. It doesn’t matter if you’re sober and safe to drive. You’re treated as guilty. No defence. No exemption. No justice.

This is not about keeping dangerous drivers off the road. It’s about defending a dangerous fiction that flips the basic principles of justice upside down.

A dangerous fiction dressed up as safety

The opponents of reform know exactly what they’re doing. They know saliva testing can’t tell whether someone is impaired. They know residue of THC can stay in someone’s system for weeks after any impairment is gone. And they know this law isn’t really about safety.

But instead of fixing a broken system, they’ve decided to defend it. Their big argument? Someone might “game the system” with a fake prescription. So rather than build something fair, they’re asking the government to treat every single patient as a liar and a criminal.

This is not road safety. Nor is it evidence-based policy. It’s just fear and stigma turned into law. And it gives authorities a way to perform being “tough on drugs” without actually making anyone safer.

A justice system flipped upside down

Australia’s justice system is supposed to start from the idea that people are innocent until proven guilty. These laws throw that out the window.

If you have any THC residue in your system, you’re automatically guilty of a driving offence. It doesn’t matter if you’re stone cold sober. It doesn’t matter if your prescription is legal. It doesn’t matter if you’re a shift worker, a parent, or a patient trying to live your life. There’s no medical defence. There’s no way to prove you’re safe to drive.

This is a system that assumes guilt, strips away rights, and denies justice. And opponents like NRMA are actively lobbying to keep it that way!

A law built on fear, not evidence

NRMA and the other opponents aren’t defending safety. They’re defending a political con. A con that hides behind road safety while wrecking people’s lives.

Punishing sober patients doesn’t prevent crashes. It doesn’t make roads safer. All it does is let the authorities look “tough on drugs” without actually doing the hard work of targeting impairment.

This is cruelty masquerading as public policy.

The human cost of their “zero tolerance”

The evidence is damning. Data on the saliva tests show high false positive and false negative rates. Seventy* per cent of people charged under these laws were not impaired at the time they were tested.

For anyone prescribed cannabis, it’s a blanket driving ban. Patients are forced to choose between their health and their mobility. 

Meanwhile, people taking other impairing medications – opioids, benzodiazepines, sleeping tablets – are trusted to drive once the impairment wears off. Only cannabis patients are treated as liars and criminals simply for using their legal medicine.

The double standard is staggering. Cannabis patients are punished simply for the stigma surrounding their prescription.

And let’s be honest: this random roadside use of unreliable saliva tests is unique to Australia. Nowhere else in the world are police using hundreds of thousands of these dodgy saliva tests to criminalise patients – because the science shows they do not indicate impairment. 

Even the NSW police own operating manual states that the tests do not indicate impairment, only presence of residue.

Zero tolerance sounds easy to enforce. It looks tough. But it is the law abiding patients who pay the price.

What real road safety looks like

Real road safety is simple. If someone is impaired, they shouldn’t drive. If they’re sober, they should be allowed to.

That’s how it works for every other medication in this country. It should work the same way for cannabis. The government should build a system that protects people from genuinely dangerous driving – not punish people who have done nothing wrong.

This is the moment to act

The government is making its decision soon. Opponents of reform are lobbying hard to keep this ban in place. If they win, thousands of innocent people will keep being punished for nothing more than a trace of their legal medicine.

This is not a neutral debate. This is a fight over whether we accept a system that treats patients like criminals and guts the presumption of innocence.

Email your local MP and tell them to stand up to NRMA. Tell them to end this blanket driving ban and bring THC into line with every other prescribed medication.

Residue isn’t impairment. Patients aren’t criminals. And this law must go.

*Calculated by Dr Michael White, University of Adelaide