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Medicinal cannabis users would not automatically lose their driver’s licence for returning a positive roadside drug test if a proposal before Queensland parliament is successful.
Critics of current drug driving laws say they unfairly penalise users, many suffering chronic health conditions, and are calling for legislation that allows patients who are not driving impaired to provide a medical defence.
Their campaign came as the Crisafulli government refused to say whether it would release the findings of a review into Queensland’s drug-driving program, commissioned by the former Labor government in 2022.
One person who lost their licence after a roadside drug test under the existing laws is Dayne Howard, 25, who has used medicinal cannabis to treat his chronic back pain for nearly seven years.
“I explained that I’m a medicinal cannabis patient, so it’s definitely going to come back positive [for THC], but I wasn’t under the influence,” Howard says.
Before taking medicinal cannabis, Howard used oxycodone, a highly addictive opioid medicine. He prefers cannabis, but is frustrated by current zero-tolerance drug-driving laws.
“I was told by both the judge and the cops you’ve got to pick between driving or treating yourself,” he says.
“But it’s not something that impairs me, and that’s the problem. We’re talking about impairment versus treatment.”
In Queensland, it is an offence for a person to drive with any detectable substance in their system, including THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis.
Saliva drug tests can detect THC for up to 12 hours in infrequent users, and days or months for regular users.
Medicinal cannabis has been legalised in Australia since 2016, and is prescribed for health conditions including insomnia, muscular spasms, chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting, epilepsy, anxiety and chronic pain.
Legalise Cannabis Queensland co-founder Suzette Luyken is behind a petition before state parliament that calls for laws to allow a medical defence for patients prescribed cannabis who test positive to THC.
“This is not about encouraging unsafe driving,” she says. “[It’s] about fairness, evidence-based law and treating patients with dignity.
“We should be testing for impairment, not punishing people for following their doctor’s advice.”
For Luyken, who lives with chronic “and often agonising” pain, the issue is deeply personal.
“For years I was prescribed a combination of pharmaceuticals including fentanyl patches, Lyrica, Endep, Sifrol and Concerta for ADHD. Under the law, I was legally allowed to drive while taking all of these medications … now I have to run the gauntlet every time I have to drive somewhere.”
Nerang-based farmer Jenelle Porter, a medicinal cannabis user since being diagnosed with cervical cancer and member of Legalise Cannabis Queensland, is a supporter of Luyken’s campaign.
“There will always be someone who has too many beers or too many cones and then gets in the car and drives.
“But for the average person who is medically assisted for a real reason … they’re not going to be driving impaired.”
University of Queensland emeritus professor Wayne Hall studies the health and medical effects of cannabis, and says while it is “much less impairing than alcohol”, a prescription should not be used as a “get out of jail card”.
“[It should] provide a potential defence, not an automatic defence.”
Victoria’s precedent for reform
Victoria amended road safety laws last year to allow a medical defence for prescribed cannabis users, provided they are not impaired at the time of testing.
Tasmania has also adopted similar laws.
The Victorian reforms were considered an interim solution while the government awaited the findings of a Swinburne University study on cannabis and driver impairment, due in mid-2026.
A previous Swinburne study found medical cannabis “has a negligible impact on driving performance when used as prescribed”.
Similar results have been found at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where researchers concluded orally ingested THC products did not acutely affect hazard perception, and that drivers compensated for cannabis use by reducing speeding and increasing their distance from other road users.
The issue has been the focus of a review by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, commissioned by the former Queensland Labor government in 2022.
Publicly available submissions to the review, including from the RACQ, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and Harm Reduction Australia, note the challenges current zero-tolerance laws present to medicinal cannabis patients.
They recommended reforms such as those implemented in Tasmania and Victoria could be considered while further research is under way.
A spokesperson for Minister for Transport and Main Roads Brent Mickelberg said the Queensland government had received the review and was following due process.
They did not answer further questions, including whether it would be made public.
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