Lawyer calls on Tasmanian government to change ‘illogical’ medicinal cannabis driving laws

A Tasmanian lawyer has called for clarity on the state’s medicinal cannabis laws, after a 60-year-old woman was convicted of drug-driving despite holding a legitimate prescription.

Barrister Greg Barns and Marta Znebejanek outside Hobart Magistrates Court. Picture: Caroline Tan

A high-profile Tasmanian defence counsel has called on the government to provide clarity on the state’s medicinal cannabis laws, after a 60-year-old woman was on Wednesday convicted of drug-driving despite holding a legitimate prescription.

After Marta Znebejanek was fined $400 and banned from driving for three months in the Hobart Magistrates Court, Greg Barns SC said his client would have had a defence if her NSW-issued medicinal cannabis prescription had been written by a Tasmanian doctor.

“In an era of telehealth, and the fact that people who are on medicinal cannabis in Tasmania often receive prescriptions from interstate doctors, the law needs to be broadened so that anyone who has a legitimate use for this medication can avail themselves of the defence,” Mr Barns told the Mercury.

Marta Znebejanek was convicted of drug-driving. Picture: Caroline Tan

“There is work going on in other jurisdictions around this, but there needs to be a national approach taken, because medicinal cannabis is not a medication which stops at the border.”

Ms Znebejanek, who pleaded guilty to one count of driving with a prescribed illicit drug present, said although she understood the court’s decision, current Tasmanian laws relating to medicinal cannabis were “illogical”.

Now facing three months without her licence, Ms Znebejanek said that at no stage in the lead-up to her failed roadside THC test in Bridgewater in mid-2022 had she felt like she was breaking the law in taking medical cannabis for chronic pain.

“I thought I had done everything right, and went through a full assessment,” she said.

“My first script came from a mainland doctor, and was even sent to a chemist in Bridgewater where I picked it up.

“I get a lot of nerve pain, and cannabis oil really helps me operate.

“If I had a Tasmanian certificate on the day I was pulled over, things would be different. But nobody informs you about it.

“I really feel like this is an injustice, because I tried to do everything right.

“This is just all very confusing, because this is Australia, and I thought we were one country.”

Ms Barns urged the Tasmanian parliament to investigate the issue, saying finding a solution would not require complicated law reform.

“There are plenty of supporters of medicinal cannabis on the left and right of politics, and everybody has constituents in this space,” he said.

“We have to make it fair for medicinal cannabis users, which is not like other drugs, because it has been designed to assist people with pain relief.”

The Tasmanian government was contacted for comment.