Our Vision: To support and educate young people, their families and communities to prevent the damage caused by drugs
Permitting cannabis users to drive totally irresponsible
Drug Free Australia is calling out the irresponsibility of proposals to the NSW and Queensland governments which are both now considering the relaxation of laws regarding driving under the influence of cannabis. While the rationale for such changes is ‘compassion’ for medicinal cannabis users, statistical evidence shows that any changes to the driving laws will come at a considerable cost to the community.
In evidence presented to the recent NSW Upper House Inquiry into the proposed relaxation of laws, Drug Free Australia gave evidence that driving under the influence of both cannabis and alcohol presents well-documented and highly elevated risks to other drivers as well as the community due to the synergistic effects between the two drugs. This is scientifically beyond dispute.
More importantly though is the fact that 62% of Australian prescriptions for medicinal cannabis are for chronic pain, which can be verified by downloading the TGA’s own registry of such prescriptions. While it is also medically beyond dispute, via 104 studies of over 10,000 medical cannabis patients, that cannabis is not at all effective in alleviating chronic pain and is only useful as an adjunct to other pain-relieving medications such as opiates, the TGA register clearly implies that roughly 2 out of every 3 Australian medical cannabis patients now hoping to legally drive while under the influence of cannabis will also necessarily be driving under the influence of cannabis AND opiates, both of which impair driving and where the synergies between drugs are at best additive and at worst multiply the dangers of both drugs while driving.
Drug Free Australia’s Research Director Gary Christian said, “The community should be very alarmed when governments are given evidence that the majority of medical cannabis drivers will be doubly dangerous but appear to be ploughing on regardless of reality. The result will be more road deaths and injury, the very things governments are meant to reduce.”
Drug Free Australia is calling on all State and Territory governments to immediately cease all consideration of relaxed laws regarding cannabis and driving.
Gary Christian
RESEARCH DIRECTOR
Drug Free Australia
0422 163 141