Medical Cannabis and Driving

[MidgeSmith]

AFAIK from hanging around on Medical Cannabis Reddits,  if you are swabbed with cannabis in your system AT ALL (impaired or otherwise) and you have no prescription, you will be arrested and taken to court where you will receive a ban. The legal limit for cannabis is deliberately set so low that it can be taken as zero tolerance.

 

If you are swabbed with cannabis in your system but you are not impaired / weren't driving dangerously and you have a prescription, you will still be arrested, but you will most likely not go to court and if you do go, it will probably be dismissed.

 

If you are found to be impaired, even with a prescription you will most likely go to court and could be banned.

 

You can drive under the influence of any prescription drug without punishment as long as you are not found to be impaired or driving dangerously. I have a relative who crashed while under the influence of codeine for pain relief and even he was not punished because he wasn't aware that he was impaired (he is an old man and was honest about it).

[Military Grade]

5 hours ago, gb1 said:

no test out there that will say how much thc is in you

I see paddy the baddy on a podcast saying the UFC have a very accurate one they use right before the fighter does the ring walk.

 

Granted they have tons of money to spend on a couple of tests each weekend whereas the pigs would be using a crap ton of the tax payers money on more per day.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Military Grade

[twigs]

wonder what happens when the Olympic Committee allow the use of all cannabinoids shortly   

 

 

[FarmerPalmersNT]

A lot of misinformation (and outright bollocks) in this thread.

 

If you are swabbed and have over the 'limit' for cannabis you could be charged. The limit for THC is uniquely set at a level that is not relevant to impairment.

 

To counter this you have a 'medical defence' if you are prescribed cannabis products. That is to say - the reason you have THC in your blood is due to your medical use. 

 

In order to charge you in that instance then impairment would need to be proven in court against that medical defence. 

 

So having a prescription does not automatically exempt you from a charge if you are caught, but it means unless there was circumstantial (dashcam footage or an obvious stupid at fault accident) or roadside impairment evidence you would be unlikely to get to court, and if you did you'd probably get off.

 

Ultimately a medical defence is probably reliable in protecting you from the low threshold for presence in the swab test, not to allow you to drive wankered.

[MindSoup]

2 hours ago, FarmerPalmersNT said:

Ultimately a medical defence is probably reliable in protecting you from the low threshold for presence in the swab test, not to allow you to drive wankered.

 

That's the important part, like you say I'm not looking for full immunity or a license to be irresponsible, but I doubt there's been many times in the last 12 years of driving that I would have passed a swap test even if I felt completely sober. 

[latitude54]

There was a similar thread a while back (cant find it now) and I did a little bit of research into it. I think the long and short was there IS a legal limit for cannabis but as @FarmerPalmersNT has mentioned, it's so low it bares absolutely no relation to being impaired. Impairment lasts up to 6 hours whilst the test will return positive for much much longer. The roadside tests also dont test for THC, they test for cannabis and the assumption is that if you have cannabis in your system at the roadside, you'll fail a blood test for THC. 

 

If I remember rightly, the "legal" experts in the docs I found advised that as with any prescription medication, if you're impaired you shouldn't drive. If you are stopped and fail, as long as you weren't stopped due to a perceived impairment your prescription will cover you for the fail and they wont pursue prosecution.

[mystic_roots]

After doing a bit more digging I came across this on YouTube. I know it’s from cancard but she explains it, so until this has been changed then you’re still at risk driving although it is nice to hear they have some very high ranking legal team tackling this issue, but we all know changes in the law are so slow it’s almost a joke. 
 

I will update too after my consultation. 
 

Cannabis & Driving

 

[gb1]

5 hours ago, FarmerPalmersNT said:

A lot of misinformation (and outright bollocks) in this thread.

 

If you are swabbed and have over the 'limit' for cannabis you could be charged. The limit for THC is uniquely set at a level that is not relevant to impairment.

 

To counter this you have a 'medical defense' if you are prescribed cannabis products. That is to say - the reason you have THC in your blood is due to your medical use. 

 

In order to charge you in that instance then impairment would need to be proven in court against that medical defence. 

 

So having a prescription does not automatically exempt you from a charge if you are caught, but it means unless there was circumstantial (dashcam footage or an obvious stupid at fault accident) or roadside impairment evidence you would be unlikely to get to court, and if you did you'd probably get off.

 

Ultimately a medical defence is probably reliable in protecting you from the low threshold for presence in the swab test, not to allow you to drive wankered.

i got rid of my medical license due to the fact that our med information is now given to and spread across 5 different agencies like insurance companies.... home... car etc. .

all needing to know your med info due to these so called impaired 

its now legal to grow tons with 4 plants personal,,, so no need for a med license or info sharring

[Dreamer420]

@gb1

where is it legal to grow 4 plants?

[gb1]

Just now, Dreamer420 said:

@gb1

where is it legal to grow 4 plants?

canadah

[mystic_roots]

As promised here’s the update as I’ve literally just come off my consultation with Zerenia. 
 

I’ve had a daytime strain which is a Satvia Hybrid, 22% THC and when I questioned him about driving he said your are absolutely allowed to drive if you don’t feel impaired. They could argue if it was an indica as that can make you sleepy and that would be impaired so I guess I’ll wait for the clinic to contact me for payment and then it’ll arrive. 
 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious and excited at the same time! Lovely Dr though 

[MindSoup]

Now that's an interesting perspective, I'm surprised they make a distinction between the 2, imagine getting pulled over "it's alright officer, I've been smoking sativa" .

Edited May 20, 2023 by MindSoup

[stu914]

Just now, mystic_roots said:

absolutely allowed to drive if you don’t feel impaired.

 

I can't get past this...how many drunk/drugged drivers fully believe they're not impaired and feel capable to drive?

 

 

[Diddy]

26 minutes ago, stu914 said:

 

I can't get past this...how many drunk/drugged drivers fully believe they're not impaired and feel capable to drive?

 

 

I'm not sure if things have changed but I recall getting prescription meds that came with the warning - Do not drive or operate machinery IF after taking you feel drowsy/unsteady. Another little bit of anecdotal evidence - My niece was prescribed strong opiate-based pain killers after she had an operation on her damaged back. She was "allowed" to drive. She said she felt zonked out and so stopped taking them in preference to smoking weed which according to her took the pain away AND didn't impair her senses.

She was SO pleased with herself (this was a years worth of not doing so well with pain and operations and opiate-based meds that she happily announced this to her GP on one of her checkups. He was so pleased for her too that he wrote to DVLA who then wrote to her and suspended her license until she could provide a clean urine test. As she felt that the prescription meds were doing her more long term damage and preventing her from going about her day to day life she chose to not drive for another year or more until the pain associated with her operations/conditions was reduced enough to cope without cannabis. She then had to wait about 4 months before being fitted in to give a sample and then weeks more before getting the all clear.

The obvious difference in her case was she self-medicated - didn't get a prescription. But it just shows how wild the law is that she "could" drive while high on opiates as long as she "felt" in control. But she couldn't drive while high on cannabis.

I honestly think a sobriety test should precede ANY other type of test.Only taking the other test if the sobriety test is failed.

[Boojum]

I'm pretty sure the law is that with prescription drugs you can be charged for driving under the influence if either your driving is impaired (ie you fail a 'field impairment assessment'), regardless of the amount in your system, or you have more in your system than the amount on your prescription, regardless of whether or not you fail a 'field impairment assessment'.

 

E2A That's the impression I get from the .gov webshite, but it's not very well worded on there (shock, horror, surely not ).

Edited May 20, 2023 by Boojum