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A Parkinson's sufferer faces a conundrum. Do they take the prescribed cannabis medication to relieve their symptoms or suffer in silence so they can drive without breaking the law?
An MS sufferer before a sympathetic magistrate on a drug-driving charge has her six-month licence suspension deferred so she can demonstrate she won't take medicinal cannabis and drive.
It's a hard call given the hours she has to drive each week for treatment.
If they live in the regions, where at best public transport is patchy and at worst non-existent, the choice is stark. In the city, where there's a good chance a bus will come by every 15 or 20 minutes, the decision to leave the car at home is so much easier.
The late-running tradie in the overloaded HiLux racing before sunrise to a far-flung job, on the other hand, might be just as impaired through fatigue but faces no legal dilemma as he or she gets behind the wheel.
There's no roadside breath test to measure lack of sleep. Instead, the community relies on the tradie's common sense and regard for others sharing the road.
But for cannabis, it's a blunt axe, blunter even than the rule for alcohol, where a blood alcohol reading under .05 is legal for fully licensed drivers and anything above is not.
In every jurisdiction in Australia bar one the presence of any level of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, is prohibited while driving. Only in Tasmania can drivers caught with THC in their system mount a medical defence.
Most medicinal cannabis prescriptions issued in Australia are for products with the non-psychoactive cannabidiol or CBD, which is not proscribed. But for severe symptoms like our Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis examples, THC offers the best relief. Prescribing doctors are required to spell out the prohibition on driving with THC in the body.
A podcast produced by the US Department of Justice shed light on recent research that suggested the presence of THC in the body did not reliably determine driver impairment, in the same way a proscribed level of alcohol in the bloodstream did. This is because THC is stored in body fat, where it can remain for days or weeks after being ingested, while alcohol passes through the body quickly.
"This research ... pretty conclusively shows that the THC concentration in the blood is not particularly well-correlated with impairment for driving," said Frances Scott, a scientist at the Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences.
It's in no one's interest to have drug-affected drivers on our roads but when it comes to medicinal cannabis, the challenge is to find a test that accurately measures whether someone with THC in their system - still there long after it was ingested and its effects have subsided - is impaired or not.
As more people turn to medicinal cannabis, the need to devise a test that accurately measures impairment becomes more pressing. Until that happens, the law, which is meant to be impartial, will continue to discriminate against people in the regions who must choose between symptom relief and mobility.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you been prescribed medicinal cannabis? Have you had to choose between driving and taking medicinal cannabis? Apart from alcohol and drugs, what are the other factors which impair drivers? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- More than 8.3 million Australians a year will suffer excruciating stings from red fire ants if the invasive pests are allowed to infest the country. That's the worrying prediction from the National Fire Ant Eradication Council as a Senate inquiry investigates the impact red imported fire ants will have on humans, agriculture, the environment and infrastructure if they establish colonies around the country.
- Two Russian nationals accused of money laundering after more than $2 million in cash and cryptocurrency was seized on the Gold Coast have faced court. Police will allege Dmitry Rimskiy, 49, and Alexandra Pavlovna Bugrova, 46, laundered money via hundreds of cash deposits at bank branches and ATMs across NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia in 2022.
- King Charles and Queen Camilla could visit Australia later this this year. The federal government has confirmed it is speaking with states and territories about a possible royal visit in 2024. While the King has scaled back on engagements following his cancer diagnosis, preparations were being made for the monarch's first visit to Australia since taking the throne.
THEY SAID IT: "Unfortunately, it's very common for patients to choose not to use medicinal cannabis [because of] the fear and anxiety of driving, knowing they could be penalised for it." Dr David Gunn, GP
YOU SAID IT: ASIO boss Mike Burgess set the fox among the chooks when he said a former politician had been recruited to advance the interests of a foreign power.
Lee writes: "I don't think there is any benefit to naming the pollie. At the time they did not break the law. They were unethical and immoral, however. If we named all pollies whose ethics we questioned it would be a long list. Mr Burgess was just providing us an example of how the A-Team works."
"Surely, the Extreme Right Misinformation Machine wagging the social media 'dog' is a bigger threat than ex-pollies suffering relevance-deficit syndrome," writes Brad.
Allan writes: "An earlier, highly respected director-general of ASIO was quoted as saying to a reporter: 'My boy, being a top spook is not compatible with being a media tart.' Mike Burgess would do well to follow this philosophy - since assuming the role he's been in the media constantly. His outing of the alleged actions of an unnamed former politician last week served absolutely no useful purpose and he'll get no thanks from his political masters."
"China is our biggest threat," writes Arthur. "It is not guns or bombs they will use. It is the yuan and they have already started the takeover of Australia."
Old Donald writes: "Thanks, John, for bringing dear old Windmills Joe Hockey back to mind. Just what I didn't need on my birthday! It reminded me of Napoleon in Animal Farm... To hell with everyone else; my mates and I are sitting pretty! As to Joe's latest silly outburst, Napoleon's porcine methods of dealing with perceived opponents were unsubtle, and very Joe-like."
Four decades in the media, working in print and television. Formerly editor of the South Coast Register and Milton Ulladulla Times. Based on the South Coast of NSW.
Four decades in the media, working in print and television. Formerly editor of the South Coast Register and Milton Ulladulla Times. Based on the South Coast of NSW.
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