A CANNABIS campaigner is pushing for a statutory medical defence for medicinal cannabis users to be included in a proposed new law to tackle drug-driving.
End Cannabis Prohibition Jersey co-ordinator Simon Harrison has launched an e-petition amid concerns from the medicinal cannabis-using community that they could be unfairly penalised by the legislation proposed by Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan.
Petitions which receive more than 1,000 signatures from the public are entitled to receive an official response from the relevant minister.
Constable Jehan’s plans would involve the creation of a new offence of driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle with a concentration of a specified drug above a prescribed limit.
Currently, the law enables the prosecution of drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol, but there is no statutory definition of a legal limit for drug use.
“Medicinal cannabis patients, and patients who use other drugs that may be included in the law in future, who are not impaired and are following prescription guidance may inadvertently test above the limits specified in the law,” Mr Harrison said in his petition.
Quoting UK government guidance, he added: “A medical defence is necessary ‘to protect those patients who may test positive for certain specified drugs taken in accordance with the advice of a healthcare professional or the patient information leaflet that accompanies the medicine’.”
Constable Jehan’s plan is also being challenged by Scrutiny politicians, who want to ensure that the regulations, once introduced, cannot be changed by a Minister alone, but must instead be done via a States Assembly vote.
If approved, Mr Jehan’s proposals would initially see a limit of 5 µg/L (micrograms per litre of blood) for Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), with the potential for further specified drugs to be added by ministerial order.
However, the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel panel has argued that any future alterations to the list of specified drugs or the prescribed limits “should be subject to full parliamentary scrutiny”.
Their suggested amendment would therefore remove the Home Affairs Minister’s discretionary ability to amend the relevant legislation in future, and give the States Assembly regulation-making powers to modify the specified drugs and prescribed limits.
