South Australia could follow Tasmania’s lead by exempting unimpaired medicinal cannabis patients testing positive for THC from the state’s drug-driving laws.
An interim report by the Joint Committee on the Legalisation of Medicinal Cannabis, established by parliament in February 2023 following a motion by Greens MP Tammy Franks, has issued a raft of recommendations regarding the current landscape.
Chief among those is the suggestion that the Road Traffic Act be amended so that patients testing positive for THC will not be committing an offence as long as they are using the product in accordance with their prescription, have a zero blood alcohol concentration and are not impaired.
The report also suggests patients testing positive for THC in the workplace should be allowed to undertake their duties if they meet the same criteria.
The committee recommends that the transport department monitor developments in testing methods which could better determine impairment in drivers, and introduce any new technology “as a matter of priority”.
It further urges the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector to consider introducing a requirement that employers treat medicinal cannabis in the same way as other prescribed drugs (with the potential to cause impairment) when drafting and enforcing work health and safety policies.
And to fund an education program to help employers and health and safety representatives better understand the risks or potential benefits of such a change.
Other issues tackled in the report include dispensing requirements, transportation and storage standards, Medicare benefits for telehealth and compassionate access schemes.