A report tabled in South Australia’s Parliament last week recommends changes to the South Australian Road Traffic Act to allow patients using legally prescribed cannabis medicines containing THC to drive if they are not impaired.
In February this year, South Australia’s House of Assembly agreed with the resolution to establish the Joint Committee on the Legalisation of Medicinal Cannabis. The Committee was to inquire into and report on the legalisation of medicinal cannabis in South Australia in relation to legal frameworks and approaches in other jurisdictions – including implications for justice, health and the economy; and any other related matters.
Among those issues was the thorny topic of patients using products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) being allowed to drive. Currently it is an offence in South Australia and most Australian states and territories to drive with any detectable level of THC in blood or saliva, even if the person’s driving abilities are not impaired. As THC can be detected up to weeks after being consumed, long after any impairment window, this places patients in a tricky situation – forego driving or risk prosecution.
The Joint Committee has recommended that South Australia’s Minister for Infrastructure and Transport prepare draft amendments to the Road Traffic Act to state it will not be an offence to drive whilst THC is present in oral fluid or blood where:
- a person has been prescribed a medical cannabis product containing THC;
- is using the product in accordance with the prescription;
- has a zero blood alcohol concentration; and
- the driver is not impaired.
Additionally, it was also recommended the Minister undertake a community consultation process regarding the draft amendments.
The report points out provisions in the state of Tasmania allow an exemption if THC was obtained and administered in accordance with the Poisons Act 1971.
The driving issue isn’t the only topic addressed in the report and in total, 13 recommendations were made. Others were related to regulation of workers who currently must not have THC present in oral fluid or blood, dispensing requirements and access, transport and storage, accessing Medicare benefits for Telehealth, compassionate programs for medicines, and other issues.
The full Interim Report of the Joint Committee on the Legalisation of Medicinal Cannabis can be accessed here.
