The New Offence of Combined Drink and Drug Driving in New South Wales
Driving under the combined influence of alcohol and other drugs has long been understood to compound the dangers of impaired driving. A drink and drug driving incident involving the roadside deaths of four children in the Sydney suburb of Oatlands...
SA Police Advertise That Drug Driving Laws Target the Unimpaired
Random breath testing (RBT) for alcohol was introduced across Australian jurisdictions in the 70s and 80s. These laws succeeded in not only significantly reducing road fatalities, but, as a 2017 paper put it, they turned “a common practice” into a...
Charged with Drug Driving? Have a Cannabis Prescription? Speak to Former Magistrate David Heilpern
Former NSW Magistrate David Heilpern is on a mission. It entails bringing about substantial reforms to the unjust roadside drug testing regime that’s currently operated by NSW police and only being bolstered by the Berejiklian government. The first change Heilpern...
Drug Driving Laws Are “a Great Wrong”: An Interview With Former Magistrate David Heilpern
David Heilpern is something of a legend in the NSW Northern Rivers. The former Lismore magistrate is known throughout the region for the just decisions he handed down in relation to residents who’d been caught out by the unjust laws...
NSW Drug Driving Laws Are Unfair and Do Not Deter
This state’s unfair drug driving laws were a major reason why former Lismore magistrate David Heilpern retired. Over the last half decade or so, the judicial officer had built up a reputation across the Northern Rivers region for his just...
Roadside Drug Testing Devices Are Unreliable, Study Reveals
Over the last five years, as the NSW Liberal Nationals government has been ramping up roadside drug testing - doubling the number of tests to 200,000 by next year - so too has the chorus of criticism about the testing...
Punishment Disguised as Safety: The Injustice of Drug Driving Laws
Enpsychedelia presenter Nick Wallis hosted a roadside drug testing forum on 4 May at the Nimbin MardiGrass, with panellists that included Reason Party leader Fiona Patten, HEMP Party secretary Andrew Kavasilas and renowned medicinal cannabis practitioner Dr Andrew Katelaris. During...
Passive Smoking Defence Exposes Flawed Drug Driving Regime
Magistrate David Heilpern has delivered yet another landmark ruling that reveals the shonky logic underlying the drug driving regime in NSW. The Lismore magistrate accepted last month that a woman tested positive to cannabis because of passive smoking. Nicole Spackman...
Drug Driving Charges and the Defence of Honest and Reasonable Mistake
A recent decision by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal has ruled that drug driving is an absolute liability offence, which means the defence of being honestly and reasonably mistaken about drugs being in the system does not apply to...
New Drink Driving and Drug Driving Laws in NSW
On 25th September 2018, the New South Wales parliament passed the Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Penalties and Other Sanctions) Bill which comes into effect across the state on Monday, 20 May 2019. The legislation amends the Road Transport Act 2013...
