Disqualified Drivers Can Now Apply to Get Their Licences Back
The Road Transport Amendment (Driver Licence Disqualification) Act came into effect on 28 October 2017, allowing certain disqualified drivers in NSW to apply to the local court for the removal of their disqualification periods. Who can apply? If you are...
Stop Testing Drivers for Minute Traces of Cannabis
Most Australian states and territories currently carry out mobile drug testing (MDT) operations that only test for three illicit substances: amphetamines, MDMA and cannabis. In Tasmania and the Northern Territory, police test for longer lists of illegal drugs. In NSW, authorities have...
Drug Driving Laws Are Not About Road Safety
In December 2015, the NSW government announced it was tripling the number of mobile drug tests carried out annually to 97,000 tests by this year. As might be expected, the number of motorists being charged with drug driving offences has also skyrocketed....
South Australia Proposes Sensible Defence to Drug Driving
Last month, the South Australian Legislative Council voted in favour of an amendment to drug driving legislation that would provide medicinal cannabis users with a defence if they fail a roadside drug test. The Statutes Amendment (Drink and Drug Driving)...
Not Guilty of Drug Driving Despite Cannabis in System
Northern Rivers region resident Joseph Carrall was pulled over by NSW police senior constable Chayne Foster on 23 June 2015 for a random drug test. The officer asked the driver whether he’d taken any illicit drugs within the last 48 hours, to...
MDT Set to Target Cocaine Users
The Australian federal government has been testing the nation’s sewage again in its continued effort to combat organised crime. The National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program tests for levels of thirteen illicit and licit substances present in wastewater at treatment plants around...
Drug Driving Charges Are On the Rise
Back in December 2015, the NSW government announced it was tripling the amount of roadside drug testing police were carrying out annually to 97,000 tests by 2017. And not surprisingly, the amount of people being charged with drug driving has more than tripled....
Government Bureaucracy Impedes Access to Medicinal Cannabis
Australian health minister Greg Hunt announced last week that medical marijuana will be more readily available within the next eight weeks. He said the government will ensure the fast tracking of the importation of cannabis based medicines. This relaxing of the laws...
NSW Drug Driving Laws: Arbitrary, Unfair and Without Evidentiary Basis
NSW Police are well into their unprecedented ‘crackdown’ on drug driving, with an explosion in the number of roadside tests for the presence of illegal drugs over the past 18-months. Last year saw a 109% increase in drug driving charges...
Police Keep Jobs Despite Committing Crimes
Police officers swear an oath to uphold and enforce the law, and many feel it is both hypocritical and damaging to the integrity of the force for officers to commit criminal offences during their period of service. Many also believe...
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