Double Demerits and Heavy Policy Presence this King’s Birthday Long Weekend
Double demerit points apply to speeding offences, illegally using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt and riding without a helmet throughout New South Wales from 12.01am on Friday, 6 June until 11.59pm on Monday, 9 June 2025....
Medicinal Cannabis Drug Driving Defence Introduce in NSW Parliament
New South Wales Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann has long been attempting to address the legal anomaly that sees prescribed users of medicinal cannabis at risk of losing their drivers licence whenever behind the wheel, including when unimpaired. Yet, with the...
High Time: NSW Government to Consider Passing Medicinal Cannabis Driving Defence
Unlike other prescription drug users, those who are prescribed medicinal cannabis in New South Wales can lose their driver licences and obtain a criminal conviction if they are found to be driving with any trace of the medicine in their...
Reforms Recommended by the NSW Drug Summit Are Long Overdue
The 2024 New South Wales Drug Summit report was released on 3 April 2025. It recommends 56 priority actions are taken, including some prominent long-term drug law reforms, like enacting a drug driving defence for users of medicinal cannabis, the...
Former Magistrate Heilpern Continues to Call for Medicinal Cannabis Driving Defence
Medicinal cannabis became a legally prescribed medicine on 30 October 2016, and despite immense teething issues in terms of the drug initially being legal but unobtainable, the Medical Board of Australia celebrated more than one million patients prescribed by January...
Should a Special Licence Be Required to Drive an ‘Ultra High-Powered Vehicle’?
On 1 December 2024, holders of South Australian driver’s licences were required to hold a special U-class licence for vehicles classed as ‘ultra high-powered vehicles’ (or UHPVs). Failing to hold such a licence when driving an UHPV amounts to a...
Victorian Medicinal Cannabis Drivers to No Longer Face Automatic Loss of Licence, But NSW Continues Zero Tolerance
As of March next year, Victorians who use medicinal cannabis will no longer face automatic loss of licence after testing positive to the illegal practice of driving with any presence of the psychoactive component of cannabis, or THC, in their...
Criminal Prosecutions Soar Under New South Wales’ Unjust Drug Driving Laws
The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) released a report on 23 October 2024 which found that the number of people charged with drug driving offences over the past decade has increased from 1,409 to 13,815 annually. But notably,...
Unimpaired Drivers Continue to Face Drug Driving Charges in New South Wales
The NSW Police Force conducted the four-day-long driving safety offence blitz, Operation RAID (Remove All Impaired Drivers), last week, which resulted in the detection of 6,653 driving offences in total, as officers targeted three specific impediments to safe driving: alcohol,...
Germany Sets Cannabis Driving Limits, While NSW Continues to Unfairly Criminalise Users
German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier signed off on legislation a fortnight ago to set a limit for driving under the influence of cannabis, with the new legal limit that’s now taken effect being 3.5 nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood....
