MP Jeremy Buckingham proposes change to driving laws for medical cannabis users

Medicinal cannabis users who return a positive roadside drug test would avoid prosecution under new legislation proposed by a NSW MP. Have your say.`

Medicinal cannabis users who return a positive roadside drug test result could soon avoid prosecution, under proposed new legislation.

Under NSW laws, it is illegal to drive with any amount of THC – a psychoactive component of cannabis – in the body, regardless of whether the driver has a prescribed dose.

On Wednesday, Leader of the Legal Cannabis party MP Jeremy Buckingham will propose new legislation to NSW parliament to allow drivers with a legitimate cannabis prescription to drive with THC in their system.

“We need to make sure the people who do legitimately have a reason to have medicinal cannabis can drive … there are hundreds of thousands of people in NSW, millions of people across Australia who will soon be on this cannabis because it’s having a big impact on some of our chronic diseases,” Mr Buckingham told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

“We’re calling on the Minns Labor government to back these reforms. Daniel Andrew looks like he is going to back these reforms in Victoria. It’s a sensible, modest reform.

“We can't to work with police to protect the integrity of the road safety system. We think we can manage both things.”

Leader of the Legal Cannabis party MP Jeremy Buckingham will propose legislation to NSW parliament to allow drivers with a legitimate cannabis prescription to drive with THC in their system. Picture: Facebook

Doctors are allowed to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes — for illnesses ranging from anxiety to cancer — but Australia‘s medical watchdog requires doctors to consider all appropriate treatment options first.

The most common strains of medical cannabis are THC and CBD.

THC is helpful for chronic pain, particularly nerve rela­ted pain, while CBD is a powerful anti-inflammatory.

Mr Buckingham said it “absolutely does not make sense” the state’s drivers who are prescribed cannabis can be pulled over and charged for having the drug in their system.

“It’s not how we deal with any other legal medicine and that’s what my bill would do,” he said.

“The act for morphine says if you test positive for morphine, you’ve got a prescription, you’re free from prosecution. We’re just doing the exact same thing and police recognise the system is broken.

“These are the rules they have in Germany, England and Tasmania right now and I think we can introduce these safely.”

Under NSW laws, it is illegal to drive with any amount of THC – a psychoactive component of cannabis – in the body regardless of whether the driver has a prescribed dose.

THC is known to trigger a positive drug test result even days after the initial usage.

“The impairment test should stay. We should not undermine road safety rules. So if a police officer sees someone driving erratically, they’re incoherent, they’ve got red eyes, slurred speech, they should still be fined with impairment. The impairment test, that offence still remains,” Mr Buckingham said.

“We hear from people all the time who are suffering.

“This is for people who are taking their medicine unimpaired so that they can continue to live their lives.”

When elected to be the party’s first leader, Mr Buckingham, a former Greens MP, said the fight to change roadside drug testing exemptions was the party’s “highest priority”.

“The average user for medicinal cannabis in Australia is woman in her 50s or 60s so these aren’t coneheads, these are people who are taking a legal medicine legitimately and are just trying to go about their lives,” he said.

“I expect it (the bill) to be passed.”