MEDIA RELEASE
Legalise Cannabis Queensland Party
Monday 29th June 2026
Queensland Government Declares War on Medicinal Cannabis Patients
The Legalise Cannabis Queensland (LCQ) Party is up in arms about the proposed doubling of penalties for drug driving, which excludes legally prescribed medicinal cannabis patients. The Queensland Government is claiming it is a road safety issue, despite scientific proof to the contrary.
LCQ strongly agrees that drug driving is a problem. Driving behaviour of those who are under the influence of methamphetamine, MDMA or cocaine can mirror the dangerous behaviours of people who drink and drive. Cannabis however is a different kettle of fish.
The scientific evidence has shown repeatedly that patients on prescribed cannabis are generally not impaired, and if they feel impaired, they choose not to drive. No one should be driving while impaired. But the roadside saliva test does NOT test for impairment—it tests for presence only.
Scientific studies from the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney in New South Wales, the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) in Queensland and Swinburne University in Victoria, have all presented scientific data that show long term regular users of cannabis are generally not impaired, even though THC levels in bodily fluids may be high.
As is the case with mood altering pharmaceuticals, legally prescribed by a doctor, most patients act responsibly, using discretion about when they feel safe to drive—yet cannabis users are still targeted for punishment by random drug testing.
This means a cancer patient, a veteran or someone with chronic pain—with a legal prescription—has to choose between symptom relief and driving, even though they are no threat to other road users. And the Government knows this! They have been told by doctors, patient advocates and the scientific evidence for years.
While other Australian states are moving towards laws that recognise the difference between presence and impairment, Queensland is choosing to punish patients even more. This isn’t about road safety. This is about deterrence and criminalising law abiding citizens who take a prescribed medicine. It is discriminatory and it appears to be more about revenue-raising than road safety.
Its a fine example of LNP ‘Reefer Madness’, targeting people who can least afford it, with hefty fines and lengthy loss of licence. Patients are being told by the police and the courts that they have to choose between taking their prescribed medicine and driving.
This is not fair. This is not just. This is a harsh and harmful policy that will destroy lives and make people suffer for no valid reason and is out of step with the findings of their own Review. UniSC acted as the official independent research partner commissioned by the Queensland Government to analyse the State's drug driving policies.
UniSC processed massive amounts of data—including an expert review of over 5,400 public and stakeholder submissions alongside executing controlled scientific trials to deliver an evidence-based road-map to the Department of Transport and Main Roads.
The Recommendations from this recent review have been kept under wraps by the LNP. But a 51 page report was published by UniSC and is testament to their findings. But it appears that their findings have been cast aside, overtaken by the LNP’s ‘Reefer Madness’ stance on all things cannabis.
The core evidentiary findings presented to the Queensland Government focus on several distinct areas. UniSC found that medicinal cannabis users are actively attempting to self-regulate. They do this by waiting specific hours post-consumption or making subjective self-assessments because they want to drive safely. But a majority feel forced to choose between legal mobility and their health.
UniSC clinical testing and driving simulator trials proved that orally ingested or vaporised THC does not acutely affect a driver’s hazard perception in the long term, and that patients naturally compensate by reducing speeds and increasing trailing distances.
THC is highly lipophilic and can be detected in saliva or blood days after any impairment has worn off. UniSC advised the Government that current zero-tolerance presence laws do not accurately reflect active road risk. They recommended exploring policy frameworks that accommodate legal prescription holders through established impairment thresholds or physical sobriety testing instead.
UniSC recommended the Government implement clear, legally defined guidelines for prescription holders to protect drivers who have trace amounts of THC in their system, provided they are consuming their medication strictly as directed by a physician and show zero clinical signs of impairment.
A previous Swinburne study in 2024 concluded that the consumption of medical cannabis containing THC (1.13–39.18 mg/dose) has a negligible impact on driving performance when used as prescribed.
The Lambert Initiative study on THC measures concluded that THC concentrations in blood and saliva do not reliably reflect a driver’s level of impairment and that regular medical cannabis users build up a pharmacological tolerance, showing minimal to no driving impairment, despite testing positive for high levels of THC.
At the 2022 NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into road safety and medicinal cannabis, Professor Iain McGregor, Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative, used statistical ‘odds ratios’ to show that a driver who is actively under the effect of cannabis has a crash risk increase of only 10% to 40% (similar to a low Blood Alcohol Concentration of 0.04 or 0.05).
Professor McGregor noted that this risk is substantially lower than driving under the influence of widely prescribed pharmaceuticals like valium (benzodiazepines) or heavy opioids, which are legal to drive on as long as the patient does not ‘feel’ impaired and stated that: “You’re actually improving road safety if you get someone off an opioid, which is more impairing than medicinal cannabis, or get them off valium which is also more impairing than cannabis”.
University of Queensland Emeritus Professor Wayne Hall, a well-known prohibitionist with anti cannabis opinions, has admitted that cannabis is “much less impairing than alcohol” and LCQ co-founder Suzette Luyken said, “This is not about encouraging unsafe driving its about fairness, evidence-based law and treating patients with dignity”.
But the LNP Government seems to know better and has rejected the scientific data and expert advice, stating that because THC is a ‘psychoactive’ substance that can impair cognitive and motor functions, the Government will continue to blindly rely on zero tolerance in the absence of a reliable, universally accepted roadside test that accurately measures active impairment—no matter what the cost to the public!
Under the Minister’s current directives, Transport and Main Roads (TMR) official guidelines explicitly reject UniSC’s push for a medicinal cannabis defence, stating that a valid prescription cannot be used as a defence for a positive roadside saliva test, meaning patients are legally expected to choose between driving or taking their medication.
This is simply not good enough. Queensland has tens of thousands of legally prescribed medicinal cannabis patients. These harsh new penalties trample on these patients’ human rights by denying them bodily autonomy. The LCQ Party calls on MPs across the floor to make a stand to protect the rights of legally prescribed medicinal cannabis patients and vote against this outrageously, inhumanely discriminatory and highly punitive Bill.
MEDIA CONTACT
Suzette Luyken
Secretary, Legalise Cannabis Queensland Party
Email: [email protected]