Victoria may end automatic licence loss for drivers testing positive for cannabis

Drivers would not automatically lose their licence if medicinal cannabis was found in their system, under temporary reforms being considered by the Victorian government.

A magistrate would instead be given the discretionary power to allow a driver with a medicinal cannabis prescription to keep their licence even if they had cannabis in their system, so long as the driver was not found to be impaired at the time they were tested.

Will Williams lost his licence – and his business – after testing positive for cannabis in a drug test.Credit: Eddie Jim

The recommendations, contained in an expert report, are in stark contrast to Victoria’s current laws, which mandate licence disqualification if drivers return a positive roadside test to the psychoactive compound found in cannabis – even without any evidence of impairment.

“No other prescribed medicine is treated in this way in Victoria,” former magistrate Tony Parsons wrote in his report. “The legal framework that applied to medicinal cannabis patients is, accordingly, grossly discriminatory and manifestly unfair.

“The consequences for medicinal cannabis patients can be crushing. Loss of a driver’s licence often results in a loss of livelihood and always means financial penalties, a lifetime criminal record, barriers to future employment and the stigma of appearing in court.”

Parsons was the supervising magistrate at Victoria’s Drug Court Division between 2012 and 2021. He heard evidence while compiling the report that people were rejecting the advice of their doctors and refusing to take medicinal cannabis because of the risk to their licences.

He also found that the majority of key stakeholders consulted – across the legal and medical sectors – supported a discretionary system for drivers who are prescribed medicinal cannabis. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton declined to participate.

Proposed changes to Victoria’s Road Safety Act are considered an interim solution, pending the findings of a state government-funded, $4.9 million Swinburne University closed-track study on cannabis and driver impairment due in mid-2026.

A separate study by three Swinburne academics, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology this year, found that consuming medical cannabis containing the drug Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol – known as THC – had “a negligible impact on driving performance when used as prescribed”.

Legalise Cannabis Victoria will propose an interim amendment to the Road Safety Act on Thursday.

Victoria introduced roadside testing for THC in 2003. When taking cannabis for medicinal purposes was legalised in 2016, the Road Safety Act was not altered.

“Before that legislation was introduced, everyone was assumed to be an illicit user,” said David Ettershank, one of two Legalise Cannabis MPs in the Upper House. “All we are doing here is updating laws that are eight years overdue.”

Ettershank said the proposed changes would “provide a defence for a person who is not impaired and who has a current prescription for medicinal cannabis”.

He said cannabis was “the only prescription medication that is treated this way out of literally hundreds and hundreds of impairment-causing prescription drugs”.

“The reality of road safety is that it’s not the presence of THC that’s the issue, it’s the impairment of the driver – if they are impaired, they should not be on the road,” he added.

“This change means that if you have a script [for medicinal cannabis], you can’t be prosecuted for the presence of THC – the police have to use a different part of the Road Safety Act that assesses an impaired driver.”

John Ryan, from drug research centre Penington Institute, said it was crucial Victoria laws were updated. “The driving laws are a hangover from the days when we never had medicinal cannabis, and we’re still applying that historical approach to it without modernising,” he said. “It should be treated the same as every other medication.”

Ryan said pain relief opioids were “incredibly prevalent in the community, as are anti-anxiety drugs – far more people are on them than are on medicinal cannabis. And yet these drugs have significant impacts on driving.”

Truck driver Will Williams gets excruciating back pain from a curvature in his spine. Rather than take opioids for relief, he got a doctor’s script for medicinal cannabis during the pandemic.

“Truck driving is not really the best sort of business to be in if you’ve got back pain,” says Williams, who found cannabis provided excellent pain relief.

Williams lost his licence in June 2020 when, as an essential worker doing deliveries, he was tested by police. “I wasn’t impaired at all. I had taken medicinal cannabis oil the night before – drops under the tongue,” he said.

Williams halted his trucking business. He took the matter to court, where the magistrate suspended his licence for six months. He had to take a drug and alcohol driving correction course and has since returned to the road.

“But I’ve had to stop taking [medicinal cannabis] because of the consequences if I get nicked again.”

Medicinal cannabis is worth around $500 million in sales annually in Australia. The industry was legalised in 2016 but roared to life in 2020 when the pandemic popularised telehealth and Australians realised they could access the drug legally and easily for the first time. Australians with a prescription for chronic pain, anxiety, sleep issues or other reasons can order medicinal cannabis online and have it home-delivered. But if caught with THC in their system, drivers automatically lose their licence.

Announcing Swinburne’s driving trial in May, Premier Jacinta Allan said medicinal cannabis use in Victoria had increased “700 per cent over the past two years, but there is still limited evidence globally about the impact of THC on driving”.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the state said the government wanted to see “whether people can drive with any level of medicinal cannabis without compromising road safety”.

Opposition roads safety spokesman Danny O’Brien said the coalition understood the concerns of medicinal cannabis users but that it was important to see the results of the government’s trial before any changes were made.

“Road safety will be paramount in any decisions we make,” he said.

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