Barriers to Accessing Medical Cannabis

Barriers to Accessing Medical Cannabis

Currently, there are Bills before three Australian state parliaments to provide medical exemptions from cannabis-presence driving offences for users of MC.

Unfortunately, those Bills have been opposed by government representatives in all three states. In New South Wales, the government arguments against the Bill are provided in a submission by the NSW Government (2022) to a Parliamentary Inquiry held in relation to the Bill; and in Victoria, the government arguments against the Bill are contained in the report of the Medicinal Cannabis and Safe Driving Working Group (2022). Those two documents are linked below.

The main focus of my presentation is to identify the government arguments against the Bill, and to provide counterarguments. As you can see from my presentation, the government arguments are flimsy, and look more like excuses than real reasons.

References

Medicinal Cannabis and Safe Driving Working Group. (2022). Assisting medicinal cannabis patients to drive safely. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) of the Victorian Government.

New South Wales Government. (2022). Submission Number 105 to the Inquiry into Road Transport Amendment (Medicinal Cannabis Exemptions from Offences) Bill 2021.

 

Dr Michael White
Adjunct Senior Fellow
School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, South Australia
Email: mawhite8@internode.on.net
ResearchGate Address: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_White24