Opponents of new drug driving laws in Queensland will gather outside Parliament House in Brisbane next week to protest at legislation they say will bring further hardship to medicinal cannabis patients.
A rally, organised by Legalise Cannabis Queensland, will be held between noon and 2pm, at the same time proposed new laws are due to be debated.
Protestors will call on the government to introduce evidence-based laws that test drivers for impairment rather than just presence of THC.
The state government announced in June it planned to increase maximum penalties and double sanctions for drink and drug-driving offences from December.
It was met with opposition from MPs, medicinal cannabis patients, legal experts, civil liberties advocates and drug and alcohol bodies.
LCQ Party president, Jacki Verne, said the proposed laws would unfairly punish Queensland’s estimated 300,000 medicinal cannabis patients for taking medication prescribed by qualified medical practitioners.
“We strongly support road safety and do not support anyone driving while impaired by fatigue, cannabis, alcohol or any other substance,” Verne said. “But this policy discriminates against disabled people taking a legal medicine. No other medication is treated in this way.”
The party added in a statement: “Under the proposed changes, patients who have followed their doctor’s instructions and are not impaired will face higher penalties because traces of their legally prescribed medication remain in their system.
“The changes also make licence suspension mandatory which would negatively affect many patients living regionally or remotely, who depend on their licences to earn a living, or meet essential responsibilities.”
It said impairment “must be the test”, arguing the presence of a legally prescribed medicine “does not prove that somebody is a threat to other road users”.
Speakers at the rally include former magistrate and Drive Change lead advocate David Heilpern, Plant Med medical director John Teh, Legalise Cannabis Australia president Michael Balderstone, Medigrowth’s Melanie Wentzel and nurse practitioner Debbie Ranson.