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Western Australia is being urged to follow the lead of New South Wales and overhaul laws for drivers caught with cannabis in their system.
Under the reforms, drivers in NSW who have lawful cannabis prescriptions will have a medical defence and be subject to a three-strike impairment test.
If they test positive, they will be barred from driving for 24 hours while their samples are analysed. The reforms see NSW join Tasmania as the only two Australian states with medical defence models.
Dr Brian Walker, who sits in WA’s upper house for the Legalise Cannabis party, said the model should be replicated in the west, where current legislation left the state increasingly “isolated, outdated, and scientifically embarrassed”.
Walker said the announcement in NSW was an important step away from the notion that “presence equals impairment” that had dogged legal cannabis patients across Australia.
“This is not a perfect model, but it is a serious and welcome step forward,” Walker said.
“New South Wales has finally accepted what our own WA government still appears incapable of understanding: the mere presence of THC does not prove impairment.
“Medicinal cannabis patients should not be forced to choose between taking a lawful prescription and keeping their licence.”
He pointed to a 2023 parliamentary inquiry that found WA’s zero-tolerance approach to drivers found with cannabis in their system unfairly penalised medical cannabis patients.
Asked about the issue on Thursday morning, Police Minister Reece Whitby said the government was considering models in other states and was open to the idea of a medical defence for drivers caught with cannabis in their system.
Whitby said the WA government supported the principle of a medical defence “in circumstances where a driver is using medicinal, prescribed cannabis”.
“So it has to be prescribed by a medical professional, and I think in those circumstances where there’s no issue of impairment of driver ability, we’re looking at how we give a medical defence for that substance being detected,” he said.
“But again I must emphasise: no impairment of ability, and it must be prescribed by a medical professional.
“We’re looking at what’s happening in New South Wales, and other states, at what models are being wheeled out over in those jurisdictions, and so we will look at what the best options are for Western Australia.”
The minister could not give a timeline for when such reforms may make their way to WA parliament, but “we’ll want to introduce the best model we can”.
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