NSW Legislates Medicinal Cannabis Driving Defence, as Queensland Implements Zero Tolerance
In terms of drug driving laws, the New South Wales government is now centre stage due to its proposed and enlightened reforms that seek to ensure users of legal medicinal cannabis aren’t disqualified from driving for simply taking their medicine,...
Pushback Against Cannabis Driving Defence Involves Parochial View of Medicine
The pushback against the Minns government’s proposal to enact a statutory defence so medicinal cannabis users who drive have a legitimate means to avoid a charge of drug driving in New South Wales, is not only based on misinformation, but...
Questions Raised About Proposed Medicinal Cannabis Drug Driving Defence in NSW
After 10 years of medicinal cannabis being a legal prescription drug, the New South Wales government has announced that it’s going to introduce a drug driving defence for those prescribed cannabis but are currently unable to drive without risk of...
Ending Global Cannabis Prohibition Is Inevitable, According to Sydney Uni Symposium
Australian Greens Senator David Shoebridge suggested an “ethical discussion” that should be had in this country involves the ongoing criminalisation of the personal possession of drugs, and in particular, the cannabis plant, at a symposium held at Sydney University last...
NSW Inquiry into Cannabis Laws Recommends Staged Reforms Leading to Legalisation
The NSW parliamentary inquiry into state laws governing cannabis released its final report on 20 June 2025, and its central issue, that the fairly innocuous psychoactive plant remains illegal, was found to be causing harm in the community and the...
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...
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...
Duopoly Killjoys Cannabis Bill, as Historic First Vote Takes Place in Federal Parliament
NSW Greens Senator David Shoebridge is the first federal parliamentarian to have brought on a parliamentary vote on the question of legalising cannabis before Australian parliament, and there is a hell of a lot of people in the community that...
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...
