About: As of March 2026, the NSW Government has announced a major policy shift toward reforming driving laws for medicinal cannabis users, flagging an overhaul of roadside drug testing rules to end the automatic criminalisation of patients. However, no specific time frame has been set for when the new laws will be introduced or take effect. The panel will explore how to change roadside drug testing laws in Australia, with different political parties sharing their experiences through their own state law reform initiatives.

Arguments for Reform

  • Distinguish Presence vs. Impairment and move to Impairment-Based Testing
  • Protect Medicinal Cannabis Patients with Legal Defence Formulation
  • Modernize Testing – Laws that align with scientific evidence
  • High Number of Patients with Lawful Medical Cannabis Prescriptions

Current Problems:

  • Zero Tolerance: Any detectable amount of specific illicit drugs (THC, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and increasingly cocaine) is an offence.
  • Rapid Expansion of testing numbers
  • Detection Focus on the presence of drugs rather than impairment, with penalties often applied regardless of whether the driver was actually impaired at the time.

Speakers:

  • Jeremy Buckingham

    MLC Legalise Cannabis Party (NSW)

    Jeremy Buckingham led the Upper House ticket for the Legalise Cannabis Party in the March 2023 NSW State election. He is committed to bringing about progressive drug law reform, legalising cannabis, fixing the broken RDT system and growing the hemp industry. He is also focused on ensuring that we protect civil liberties, our environment and enact policies that look after the disadvantaged in our society.

  • David Ettershank

    MLC Victoria, Legalise Cannabis Party

    David Ettershank was elected as a Legalise Cannabis Member of the Legislation Council in the 2022 Victorian election. He is determined to see cannabis legalised, de-stigmatised, and its many benefits recognised for all adult Victorian consumers.

  • Cate Faehrmann

    NSW Greens MLC

    Cate Faehrmann is a Greens MP in the NSW Upper House and the party’s drug law reform spokesperson. Cate has been a longtime advocate for drug law reform, writing an opinion piece in 2019 about her own use of drugs in an attempt to destigmatise drug use and highlight the hypocrisy of our drug laws. Cate has spearheaded campaigns to legalise cannabis, remove discriminatory roadside drug testing laws that punish medicinal cannabis patients for the mere presence of THC instead of impairment, allow drug checking at festivals and in the community, remove criminal penalties for drug use, and more.

  • Lachlan Hall

    Young Labor Left

    Lachlan Hall is the Young Labor Left Regional Organiser, based in Ballina. Lachlan is a strong supporter of progressive drug reform, fighting to change a system that stigmatises people based on age, race, and class. Alongside this, Lachlan seeks to empower the voices of rural youth who are often left out of pivotal conversations.

  • Sue Higginson

    NSW Greens MLC

    Sue Higginson is a Greens MLC in the NSW Parliament driven by social and environmental justice. Her journey started in the old-growth forests of the North Coast as a frontline activist and her passion for protecting our precious native forests is just as strong today. Sue is in the NSW Parliament to bring in laws that protect First Nations people and their culture, to end logging in our public native forests and the destruction of nature, and to challenge the corporate interests that want coal and gas mining extended and expanded in communities across our state.

  • Stephen Lawrence

    MLC NSW Australian Labor Party

    Stephen Lawrence is an Australian barrister and Labor Party politician who is currently serving as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the mayor of the Dubbo Regional Council.

  • Dr Brian Walker

    MLC Legalise Cannabis Party (WA)

    Brian is an Australian politician and medical practitioner with over 40 years of experience, spanning many continents and cultures. His passion is making this world a better place for our children and grandchildren. Born in Malaysia to Scottish parents, he received his education at Scotch College in Perth before earning his medical degree at the University of Dundee, Scotland. Brian’s medical career has seen him practice across the globe—from the cutting-edge hospitals of Germany, the Soviet Union, the UK, and Hong Kong, to his eventual return home to Western Australia in 2008, where he established a specialist GP practice in the Perth Hills. Since being elected in 2021 as leader of the Legalise Cannabis WA Party, Dr Walker has been a strong voice for reform, challenging outdated laws and advocating for modern, science-backed policies. With his deep understanding of medicine and health, he brings a fresh, holistic perspective to the political arena, focusing on improving the medical, mental, social, and economic wellbeing of all Australians.