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CALLING ALL PASSIONATE MEMBERS OF THE CANNABIS COMMUNITY!
We need your help to drive through common-sense legislative reform!
The Drive Change campaign has been established with the purpose of ending unjust cannabis driving laws across this country. We’ve joined with them to spread the word!
You may already be aware how ‘drug driving’ laws across Australia are actively discriminating against medicinal cannabis patients – especially if you yourself are a patient. If you aren’t, however, let us give you a rundown of the situation.
Our Drug Driving Laws Are Discriminatory
If you use cannabis medicine containing THC, you cannot legally drive. Excluding Tasmania, this applies to all jurisdictions in Australia.
Medicinal cannabis is the only medication where you face the risk of losing your licence if you test positive for its presence. Every other prescription medicine has an associated legal defence for presence. If you test positive for opiates, benzodiazepines or amphetamines and have a prescription, you’re free to go.
So… why not legal medicinal cannabis?
Let’s be clear: we are not referring to drivers who are truly impaired – by all means, they deserve to face legal consequences. We are talking about presence in saliva or blood, which has repeatedly been demonstrated as an unreliable indication of impairment.
While the effects of impairment from THC typically only last a few hours, the compound stays in the body for a much longer duration. The result is that thousands of otherwise law-abiding Australians live in fear of prosecution.
Long story short: the testing regime in Australia is dysfunctional and discriminatory. These laws are unjust and purely unacceptable, which is why we want to see them changed.
Here’s Where YOU Come In!
We’re participating in a letter-bombing campaign with Drive Change and Better Letters to place public pressure on our state and federal MPs. After all, it’s about time our legislators took meaningful action on this issue!
That’s why we’re calling out to all of our followers – we need you to make your voice heard! Whether you’re a patient on the medicinal cannabis scheme, an industry professional, a supporter of legalisation, or just a regular cannabis enthusiast, we ask you to join with us to place real pressure on state and federal governments.
All you have to do is send a physical letter to our state and federal representatives. Better Letters have created a customisable template to make this process easier than ever.
It’s time for our amazing community to focus its efforts towards common sense decriminalisation. By contacting our representatives and demanding this reform, we can make a profound difference to the lives of medicinal cannabis patients.
If you use cannabis medicine containing THC, you cannot legally drive. Excluding Tasmania, this applies to all jurisdictions in Australia.
This is highly unusual for a legally prescribed medication. In fact, medicinal cannabis is the only medication where you face the risk of losing your license if you test positive for its presence.
Let’s be clear: we are not referring to drivers who are truly impaired – by all means, they deserve to face legal consequences. We are talking about presence in saliva or blood, which has repeatedly been demonstrated as an unreliable indication of impairment.
Writing Your Letter
In partnership with Drive Change, Better Letters has launched a letter-bombing campaign directed at state and federal MPs. We want to place public pressure on our legislators to take meaningful action on this issue.
To make this a quick and easy process, Better Letters have written a letter template that you can edit to your heart’s desire. We encourage you to customise this template to represent your unique perspective!
Alternatively, you can write your own letter from scratch, and Better Letters will sort out the rest!
Here are some points to help you create the structure of your letter:
- What is your medical diagnosis (if any)?
- If you are on the medical cannabis scheme, what was your health and wellbeing like before cannabis?
- Why did you switch to medicinal cannabis?
- How has cannabis changed your life/health for the better?
- How are the current discriminatory drug driving laws negatively impacting you?
- Why do you want to see the cannabis driving laws changed?
If you’d like to add information about how the current drug driving laws don’t match the science, you can find scientific drug driving facts and figures on our blog.
Remember: the message is simple. We want equal rights for medicinal cannabis patients.
Who Should I Write To?
We recommend:
- Writing to your local State or Territory MP
- Writing to your Premier or Chief Minister
- Writing to your local Federal MP
Cannabis reform is a complex issue in Australia. Writing to your local Federal and State MPs can be effective, but their capacity to influence the issue varies.
Federal MPs will be crucial for legislation to be supported at the state-level. By writing to your Federal representative, you can help influence their support for reform of these discriminatory policies. State MPs play a direct role in the details of cannabis legislation in their jurisdiction.
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