Military veteran and medicinal cannabis patient and advocate Derek Pyrah has failed a roadside THC test in New South Wales.
It is understood that Pyrah, who is well known in the industry, has not yet been charged, with further action pending the return of lab analysis.
The detection of THC during an oral fluid test comes as NSW is poised to reform drug driving laws in a move to protect legitimate medicinal cannabis patients from prosecution, as long as they are unimpaired.
New laws were passed by the NSW lower house in August and will now move to the upper house.
Raising the issue of Pyrah’s situation with NSW premier Chris Minns, Legalise Cannabis MP Jeremy Buckingham said the former Royal Australian Air Force aircraft technician was not impaired and was taking his medication as directed by his doctor.
Chairing a hearing of the Portfoli0 Committee, Buckingham asked Minns if he thought it “fair” that a retired veteran of the Iraq War should be treated in such a way.
“If it is as you described, it’s one of the reasons we have proposed what we regard as common sense change to the law in NSW,” Minns told Buckingham.
“Medicinal cannabis is being used by hundreds of thousands of people across the state, sometimes in desperate situations, and I’ve spoken to many returned servicemen and women…who have served the country with distinction and respect, and who are heroes, and they are passionate advocates for a change in the law.
“They think medicinal cannabis has been a life changing event because it means they are no longer reliant on previously prescribed drugs that lead to impairment, are addictive and can have a massive impact on their lives.”
It was no longer possible to “pretend” that circumstances hadn’t changed in the accessibility of medicinal cannabis, the premier added.
Proponents of drug driving reform will argue the threat of prosecution of a former serviceman – for taking his prescribed medicine – further highlights the unfair treatment of medicinal cannabis patients.
Pyrah has been a high-profile and long-standing advocate of cannabinoid medicine since publicly detailing his struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after returning from Iraq, which included multiple hospital admissions and suicide ideation.
It was only when he turned to black market cannabis in 2015, and legal medicinal cannabis in 2020, that his condition and quality of life improved dramatically, and he emerged from what he called a “zombie” state.
Through his advocacy campaign groups Safer Veterans Australia and No More Zombie Veterans, Pyrah has campaigned for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to add PTSD to the list of conditions for which the government will offer financial assistance for medicinal cannabis.
Explaining his battles with mental health in 2021, Pyrah said: “I served my country in the Iraq War, and it was an honour to do so. But the experience left with me a crippling case of PTSD.
“For nine years, I was regularly hospitalised due to mental health issues. I was put on a mix of benzodiazepines and anti-psychotics, which did nothing for my PTSD, but turned me into a zombie.
“I’m not alone. At least 17% of all veterans are living with PTSD. It’s killing too many of us. And the treatment and care we’re being offered by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) are not helping.
“This is why after nine years of suffering, I turned to medicinal cannabis, at first via the black market and then, finally, legally prescribed. It has turned my whole life around.”