Australia’s New South Wales has moved to end the automatic penalisation of medicinal cannabis patients caught driving with THC in their system, introducing a registration and threshold-based framework that leaves most of Australia’s one million cannabis patients still without equivalent protection.
The Minns Labor Government announced the reform on 4 June 2026, with legislation to be introduced in the final sitting week of June.
Under the proposed changes, registered patients who hold a valid prescription and test below 50 ng/mL of THC at roadside will face no charge or further action.
Those testing above the threshold will receive a warning letter on a first or second detection within two years. A third detection triggers an AU$704 fine and a minimum three-month licence suspension.
To enter the scheme, drivers must register with Transport for NSW, provide proof of a valid prescription and complete an online education module on cannabis and driving safety.
The changes apply only to unrestricted licence holders, while those using ‘L’ and ‘P’ plates and commercial drivers are excluded.
A positive roadside test still triggers an immediate 24-hour driving ban while the sample is sent for laboratory testing, and anyone found driving while impaired, or with alcohol or multiple drugs present, continues to face the standard drug-driving offence.
The reform follows recommendations from the state’s 2024 Drug Summit and includes a one-year review mechanism.
More than 300,000 medicinal cannabis patients are estimated to live in NSW, roughly one in three of Australia’s total, and the number of cannabis medicines dispensed monthly in the state nearly doubled over the past year.
NSW now joins Tasmania, which already provides a medicinal cannabis defence, and Victoria, which is actively pursuing similar changes.
Western Australia remains the most conspicuous holdout. Writing to Business of Cannabis on 4 June 2026, Dr Brian Walker MLC, a Western Australia Legislative Council member for the Legalise Cannabis Party, said he had put six separate parliamentary questions to the Cook government about a WA THC driving working group report handed to the relevant minister four months ago.
“The answer, every single time, has been: ‘the government is continuing to consider.’
“Tasmania has a medicinal cannabis defence. Victoria is actively reforming. NSW has now acted. Meanwhile, WA patients are still losing licences and livelihoods,” Walker said. “As a doctor, I do not believe that to be acceptable.”
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The Minns Labor Government announced the reform on 4 June 2026, with legislation to be introduced in the final sitting week of June.
Under the proposed changes, registered patients who hold a valid prescription and test below 50 ng/mL of THC at roadside will face no charge or further action.
Those testing above the threshold will receive a warning letter on a first or second detection within two years. A third detection triggers an AU$704 fine and a minimum three-month licence suspension.
To enter the scheme, drivers must register with Transport for NSW, provide proof of a valid prescription and complete an online education module on cannabis and driving safety.
The changes apply only to unrestricted licence holders, while those using ‘L’ and ‘P’ plates and commercial drivers are excluded.
A positive roadside test still triggers an immediate 24-hour driving ban while the sample is sent for laboratory testing, and anyone found driving while impaired, or with alcohol or multiple drugs present, continues to face the standard drug-driving offence.
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The reform follows recommendations from the state’s 2024 Drug Summit and includes a one-year review mechanism.
More than 300,000 medicinal cannabis patients are estimated to live in NSW, roughly one in three of Australia’s total, and the number of cannabis medicines dispensed monthly in the state nearly doubled over the past year.
NSW now joins Tasmania, which already provides a medicinal cannabis defence, and Victoria, which is actively pursuing similar changes.
Western Australia remains the most conspicuous holdout. Writing to Business of Cannabis on 4 June 2026, Dr Brian Walker MLC, a Western Australia Legislative Council member for the Legalise Cannabis Party, said he had put six separate parliamentary questions to the Cook government about a WA THC driving working group report handed to the relevant minister four months ago.
“The answer, every single time, has been: ‘the government is continuing to consider.’
“Tasmania has a medicinal cannabis defence. Victoria is actively reforming. NSW has now acted. Meanwhile, WA patients are still losing licences and livelihoods,” Walker said. “As a doctor, I do not believe that to be acceptable.”
The post Australian State to End Automatic Licence Loss for Medical Cannabis Drivers appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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