An 18-month closed-circuit driving trial commenced in August 2024, for the purpose of testing medicinal cannabis patients’ ability to drive safely. The results will determine if and how Victoria’s driving laws should be updated.
Current laws require Victoria police to test for presence of THC, rather than impairment. This poses a major barrier to driving for medicinal cannabis patients, as THC can take 30 days to metabolise. Meanwhile, other prescription medications which can impair driving are not detected by roadside drug tests.
Rachel asked how the first phase of the trial is going, when the findings of the trial will be released and why the decision was made to remove research into technologies that can test for impairment.
Wednesday the 3rd of June 2026,
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Minister Spence.
I ask the minister to provide an update on the medicinal cannabis closed-circuit trial that was announced by the government in May 2024 and commenced in August 2024 by Swinburne University. The 18-month deadline passed three months ago, and we are yet to see the outcomes of this trial. The government partnered with Swinburne University for this trial and committed $4.9 million to an 18-month study to see if Victorians using prescribed medicinal cannabis can drive safely. The trial was to recruit patients who were prescribed medicinal cannabis by a treating physician and test how their medications affected things like steering and braking, as well as decide if and how Victoria’s driving laws should be updated. As part of this announcement in May 2024, the government also committed to creating resources to help doctors consider patients’ driving needs when prescribing medicinal cannabis.
Road safety should always be the main goal for all driving laws in Australia. However, the current approach, especially for medicinal cannabis patients, is inadequate. As you are aware, it tests for the presence of THC rather than driving impairment. Medicinal cannabis patients are prescribed medicine with professional advice on dosage and effects. The focus of drug-driving research needs to be centred around impairment and emerging technologies that can test how drugs can affect driving ability and, if so, for how long. It should be about road safety, not outdated stigma.
Research into emerging technologies to test for impairment is essential, and such technologies are in use in other countries. In Australia I note that since cannabis was decriminalised in the ACT there has been no increase in associated road accidents. In May 2025, Dr Thomas Arkell from Swinburne University published a report, The Impact of Cannabis Decriminalisation on Road Safety in the ACT, which found that there had been no increase in the crash rates since cannabis was decriminalised.
It has been well over 18 months since the announcement of the trial in Victoria. I ask the minister for an update on how the first phase of the trial is going, when the findings of the trial will be released and why the decision was made to remove research into technologies that can test for impairment.
[Written response pending]
Related:
- Medicinal Cannabis Driving Reform – Rachel Payne
- Prescribed ≠ Impaired – Rachel Payne
- Let medicinal cannabis patients drive – Rachel Payne
- Medicinal cannabis driving amendments – Committee debate – Rachel Payne
- Medicinal Cannabis Driving Trial and Pill Testing – Rachel Payne
