A bill was recently introduced to state parliament in New South Wales seeking to end driving discrimination against patients responsibly and legally using medical cannabis.
Medicinal cannabis products often contain THC, even just in trace amounts. This can be detected by saliva tests up to weeks after effects have worn off.
In New South Wales, as in most other Australian states and territories, drivers are being charged and losing their driver’s licences from such detections regardless of a lack of impairment, even when using medication as directed and legally prescribed by their doctor.
This is forcing many medical cannabis patients to make a difficult choice – forgo their medication and suffer so they can drive (which can also impact their driving ability), stop driving and risk employment and social isolation, or take the risk knowing they could be prosecuted.
New South Wales Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann recently introduced the Road Transport Amendment (Medicinal Cannabis-Exemptions from Offences) Bill 2025 to the state’s parliament
Commenting on her Bill the day it was tabled (May 28, 2025), Ms. Faehrmann said:
“No one should face criminal charges for using their medication safely, as directed, and while driving with no impairment whatsoever. So today I’m proudly speaking to my bill that will give medicinal cannabis patients a medical defence for drug driving laws if they are unimpaired.”
The object of the Bill is to exclude users of medicinal cannabis from the application of the offences relating to driving while a prescribed illicit drug is present in a person’s oral fluid, blood or urine if it has been legally prescribed.
In her second reading speech concerning the Bill, Ms. Faehrmann noted the UK, New Zealand, Norway and Germany provide a medical defence for testing positive for THC, assuming the driver is not impaired and has a prescription. In Australia, Tasmania has had a defence for nine years.
The MP also noted among the outcomes of the NSW Drug Summit, a medical defence for people using legally prescribed cannabis who are driving was recommended, including an option for police at the roadside or a court to assess the defence.
“… this issue has been well and truly examined by experts, and the ball is now in the Government’s court to act.”
Ms. Faehrmann has been pushing for driving-related medical cannabis reform in the state for years.
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