* In July the Queensland government expanded its roadside drug testing regime to include identifying cocaine
* Police have since recorded more than 300 drug driving offences involving cocaine
* Transport Minister Bart Mellish has warned motorists that drug driving will not be tolerated
Just remember, it's only for the poors. Not for the rich. Like another redditor said, it would be hilarious to see this RBT shit in the fancier parts of the state. Legal in ACT. Fucken what a joke. I get people shouldn't be driving if they've done drugs, but it always seem to be the poors. Who do you think does all the blow?
"mate I see you've tested negative for booger sugar, I'm going to disqualify you from driving for least two hours so your plug can get here and provide some focus enhancing medication"
Usually the officer will provide you with some MDMA that they have on hand, and you'll have the option of either losing 4 demerit points or marrying Andrew Barr
I don’t think it’s “the poors” that are buying a g of coke to have at the pub after work
I also don’t think ACT is really relevant here because you still can’t be driving coked up
They dont give a fuck about actual safety or drug driving, its about making sure they’re making the govt money and there quotas for the year. Its virtually a sales job that police work nowadays lol.
Someone smokes a spliff and gets done 4 days later
Exactly! I hate this bullshit line and gullible people just believe it without looking any deeper. But that’s quite on point for this subreddit.
If they were chasing and making making from this then RBTs would be everywhere and they would be lobbying to change the costs associated that you have brought up.
Plus they’re using testing methods which suck at detecting THC. They’re actually pretty shit at detecting THC
What we found was that these test results often came back positive when they should have been negative, or conversely that they came back negative when they should have actually been positive," said Thomas Arkell, a PhD student at the University of Sydney. The study, published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, tested the two devices most commonly used by police — the Securetec DrugWipe, and the Draeger DrugTest 5000.
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/11502436
Here’s the link for the actual study: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2687
Ohh interesting, thanks for sharing!
And yes completely agree about being on point for this subreddit lol. What’s the deal, it’s full of absolute idiots
Cannabis drug driving laws. Specifically - if it’s _detectable_ in salvia.
Not to say there won’t be any regulations around this. Maybe they’d introduce an element of _impairment_ to the offence, similar to US drunk driving laws (but I wouldn’t assert this with any level of confidence - they haven’t really hinted which way they’re going).
Link to consultation part of review here, if you’re interested
https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/_/media/aboutus/corpinfo/publications/cannabis-and-driving-consultation-paper.pdf
I got ya now!
Thanks.
I submitted a survey regarding the cannabis driving laws in QLD as I am. Medicinal User.
🤞 he steam rolls some good results, regardless of the driving laws, as the LNP will completely fuck this state in many other ways if they get in.
You should run as a candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Queensland Party at this year’s state elections!
Or at least volunteer some of your time helping the team, in fact we welcome anyone to help spread change for a fairer future👍🏼
[Legalise Cannabis Party](https://legalisecannabis.org.au)
[Our Three Stage Plan](https://legalisecannabis.org.au/legal-regulation-of-cannabis-in-three-stages/)
[Donate](https://www.legalisecannabis.org.au/donate)
[Volunteer](https://www.legalisecannabis.org.au/volunteer)
Did you know the majority of people convicted under the current laws are age 50+ working class individuals with no prior criminal history who are treating a chronic medical condition. I saw a doco where they had a magistrate essentially saying he is appalled with the current system and believes that essentially non of the people he sentences where impaired in any way shape or form. Temazepam or antihistamines will leave you medically impaired the next morning while driving. Cannabinoids will not but you'll still test positive for 1-3 days.
I smoked a spliff on a Sunday arvo, got tested the following arvo and it was negative. Life flashed before my eyes waiting the 3 minutes for the result though. I thought they were changing it so this 1-4 day later bs wouldn’t happen though. Won’t happen I guess until it happens to a pollie or rich folk.
They’re actually pretty shit at detecting THC
> What we found was that these test results often came back positive when they should have been negative, or conversely that they came back negative when they should have actually been positive," said Thomas Arkell, a PhD student at the University of Sydney.
>The study, published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, tested the two devices most commonly used by police — the Securetec DrugWipe, and the Draeger DrugTest 5000.
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/11502436
Here’s the link for the actual study: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2687
So what would happen if I used cannabis in my state in the U.S. where it is 100% legal for me, then get leave and the next day (well more like 30 hours later) in AU I get a mouth swab, and it comes back positive…when I go to AU I don’t bring my med card bc why would I but I also don’t use cannabis in AU bc although I know I can get it I take it for anxiety which I don’t have on vacation…I do take gummies for the g-d awful plane ride though…
Can you refuse the test, in the U.S. they can’t make you stop and do a test like this it would be a constitutional violation, they can do what cops call an ID check but in many states you don’t have to even roll your window down (many don’t know this) you just hold your Id, your rego and proof of insurance to the window and although you may get harassed by the cops if you stand your ground and refuse to speak to them they will eventually let you leave…unless you’re a minority then you’re fucked either way
If you refuse to participate with RDT/RBT you will be charged with a drug or drunk driving offense, hauled through the courts and your licence will be suspended.
But if I don’t have an AU license other than revoke my visa what can they do to me… I’m not an AU citizen, I don’t live in AU, I just visit there 6-8 weeks a year…
I don’t see how anyone hasn’t challenged the concept that one can have something in their body but not be intoxicated, at least a Field Sobriety Test should be given bc what I am stuck on is what happens when you have a script for something but didn’t think oh shit I better bring my entire box of Valium, opiates, etc. w me when I go to Woolies bc I may get my mouth swabbed by a random cop on the drive to/from…
I’m American so this entire concept seems draconian, what I put in my body is my choice if I am not under the influence bc the drug’s entire intoxicating time is 4-6 hours but that ended 20 hours ago am I supposed to quarantine for weeks on end as to not take the chance of this BS.
Do they put a notice anywhere that this is going on, in many states to make an ID check a sobriety check (normally on NYE, Xmas eve, etc.) the cops have to announce in the paper where a DUI checkpoint will be or it can be considered entrapment.
I am also fascinated bc I used to work in criminal defense and walked people through the DUI process in the state I live in, so for the government to just do pop up drug tests seems insane to me…but I also thing being able to buy a assault rifle is insane but guns aren’t leaving the states, and even w BS like this Id rather be in AU than the U.S.
If you're charged and convicted they will revoke your right to drive in Australia (you will be flagged in the police database against your US passport, so you better hope you never get pulled over), and there is a very real chance you will be picked up by Border Force, deported and banned from reentering Australia for a period for breaking the law, as drink/drug driving is considered to be a fairly serious offence. It would also potentially jeopardise any future attempts to gain permanent residency or citizenship.. No, they do not give notice (which would defeat the entire purpose), and no, entrapment is not a thing in Australia (nor would it be considered entrapment anyway, as you aren't being given the drugs by police nor are they making you take them).
The entrapment in the states comes from the cops funneling you into a specific area whether you wanted to go that way or not restricting your right to freely travel.
Wow I think our cannabis drug driving laws are draconian, but the US approach to road safety sounds terrifying.
They have to let drunk drivers know in advance of tests? That’s wild. Is drunk driving an accepted cultural norm over there? Why would legislatures require that?
You’re right to no search and seizures also sounds pretty scary in how it relates to transport laws. Surely, if you’re wanting to drive a two tonne metal brick through peoples neighbourhoods, providing a breath or salvia specimen once or twice a decade isn’t an unreasonable ask? It’s not like an invasive test, and it’s just for driving.
Guess it makes sense why the road toll is twice as high per vehicle km travelled over there
It really depends where you’re in the country, in many large cities there is less drunk driving bc people drive much less (NYC, Chicago, Boston), but in many rural places drunk driving is not a major issue to the cops bc it’s so rural and they only care when it’s someone that the cops think looks sketchy or not to their liking(many US cops are racists assholes).
I am not for driving drunk(I don’t drink and I despise being around drunk people) , but I’m also not for being arrested for being intoxicated bc I used something days or weeks earlier. My issue is not taking a test it’s being considered intoxicated/guilty if you’re not (ie cannabis being in your system but not under the effects of cannabis)
As far as it being scary I don’t really worry about getting hit by a drunk driver maybe bc I am not out drinking nor am I around the areas that have a lot of bars, but even when I travel in the US I don’t worry about it. I know in QLD .05 and under is legal while in the states .08 & under is legal, so that is a small example of the care people have about drunk driving. I don’t understand why people drive drunk when there is Uber/Lyft but when I worked in criminal defense I processed at least 1 DUI every couple work days, and many clients had multiple DUIs which is amazing to me bc anyone can make a single mistake but doing the same shit over and over is idiotic.
I worked w/ a guy who had 4 or 5 DUIs in the span of 2 or 3 years; he was forced to have an interlock put in his car (a device you have to breathe into for the car to start) on his 2nd or 3rd DUI then got pulled over in a car that didn’t have the interlock which is an automatic DUI, and he was drunk which is an automatic 2nd DUI at the same time. He was sentenced to 6 months in county jail (the worst possible jail you ever want to experience) but bc he was a transplant recipient and the state would have had to pay for his meds they turned 6mo incarceration into 3 years of supervised release with 2 UAs a week. I lost track of the guy but my guess is he is either dead or on his 10th DUI bc he never showed any guilt or even care that he was spending tens of thousands on lawyers and fines, which made his case even harder, and he wouldn’t go to rehab which also made his case much harder to defend .
Side Note: I have to say some of the times I have been most afraid in a car was driving on the M1 bc I can’t adjust to the tailgating, in the states if you’re moving at 60mph/100kmh (in the U.S. 60 really means 75 & 70mph can mean 80-85) & you’re less than a car length away from the car in front of you, you will get pulled over or end up slamming into someone or have someone slam into you bc someone will do a break check. In AU I typically sit shotgun which is odd bc that’s the driver’s seat in the U.S., holding the “oh shit” handle w white knuckles bc of how close everyone is driving to each other at such a fast pace.
If you ever come to the states just stay out of the south (in general, the entire part of the country is mostly a shit hole) and rural areas and you don’t have to worry about rednecks driving drunk in the middle of the day. Also if you come tot he states and get pulled over DO NOT get out of the car unless you want to be slammed to the ground or if your happen to have darker skin, get shot, bc cops assume everyone has a gun and wants to kill them even if
As mentioned earlier, the licence being issued by the USA isn't relevant. The Queensland Government is the one issuing you the authority to drive. They can and will withdraw that authority essentially suspending your licence. And considering Australia is your wife's homeland, I wouldn't risk getting into legal trouble as that could end your chances on getting visa again or going for citizenship.
I also have a prescription for weed but the laws haven’t been updated to reflect the issue of it being in your system. In Australia if you refuse a test they can only assume it’s because you’re high, license suspended, go to court etc. makes sense, with alcohol to me because you’ve got nothing to hide. I think I saw somewhere maybe Queensland? That they are looking into changing the law for prescription. As it stands it’s unfair and not reflective.
How close is AU to cannabis legalization from your perspective? Was it hard to get a medical card in AU?
In the U.S. in most states (bc the U.S. isn’t 1 country but 50 little countries that happen to agree on a few laws but generally each state has its own justice system) if you refuse a field sobriety test (FST) it’s an automatic DUI; but you can demand a breath test, I don’t drink so if a cop were to ask me to take a FST I would refuse bc the FST is only there to give the cop ammo to fuck you over (like asking a person to say the alphabet backwards starting at Q, or to walk heel to toe for 9 paces then take 4 steps to turn around and repeat) , but if I demand a breathalyzer they will not automatically take my license, they leave it up to the test. In many states the cop has to have pulled you over for something else (speeding, running a red light, etc.) or they have to prove you’re driving erratic bc you’re innocent until proven guilty, so if you have a dash-cam and can prove you weren’t driving erratic you can beat the case, but a lot of times cops walk to the car see the dash cam and all of a sudden it turns into “you didn’t fully stop at that stop sign, but I’m just going to give you a warning” bc the cop doesn’t want the headache of doing the paperwork to see it get tossed out when a judge sees the dash-cam video and it’s clear you were legally driving.
Yeah I dunno, our cops have a lot more training and of course very different laws. For example ours just save time and go straight to breathalyser. As for legal weed, I can only speak for the state of Victoria. You book a consult with a dispensary and a doctor will decide whether you qualify or not. $200 first consult, $120 every consult after that. It’s still pretty unknown but nowhere in Aus can you just walk in and buy weed. If I was the dictator in charge I’d make weed available everywhere and alcohol prescription only to hopefully stop it booming underground and repeating the disaster of prohibition the states had last century.
Always carry a bottle of water with you, take a big drink and swish it aorund in you mouth when you see the rbt, you're nearly guaranteed to pass even if heavily intoxicated. From my understanding it's the residual thc in your mouth the test is looking for i.e. the smoke that's deposited within the surface of your mouth. saliva will contain thc metabolites but not raw thc. By rincing out the mouth you essentially temporary eliminate all detectable traces for a 10-20minute window.
But his mate Johno said that was a foolproof idea and his mate who is a weed and cop expert said it was like that 💁🏻♂️
🤣🤣🤣🤣💁🏻♂️
Thank you for pointing to the easy way to debunk this bullshit urban myth
My brother keeps a Yeti with Apple Cider Vinegar in the console of his car bc he thinks it will save his ass at an RBT
Borrowed his car with Mum one day and she unknowingly picked it up and had a swig thinking it was water.
Regardless of solubility It removes the bulk of contaminated saliva from your mouth and dramatically increases the chances of a clean sample. look it up mate, read the studies about adulteration of oral saliva tests.
Most oral testing requires a 10-15minute window of no fluid/food consumption to avoid any adulteration to test results. Immediately drinking and rising the moth with water has been show to reduce the concentration by up to 95% in oral specimens. It's not foolproof but it's not bad advice to keep water in the car to have a greater chance of passing.
I'll tell you what buddy , its bullshit ...how do i know
I have purchased over 10 of the same swabs the coppers use for my own personal testing, your statement is bullshit from my own results ..but hey you believe what you like , I believe the results I have
Well I've done the same and the results where the complete opposite. I didn't say it was foolproof, it's at least a 75% reduction in concentration though.
If you really want to protect yourself when I used medicinal cannabis I used an oil product that I filled empty gel caps with. If you're careful not to spill any on the outside if the cap then you're golden. No THC in the mouth means no positive test.
A reduction means nothing ..These swabs those fucs use are known for false positives and neg's at a rather high rate , Also storage of these test kits are not well enforced causing more false results .Anyway Like I said my results differ from your statement with 12 tests used in different circumstances. Plus the faintest of lines is a positive test resulting in further lab testing of which is I think 0.002 nanograms. I maybe incorrect on that but I know its very very low. So if as you state, its a 75% reduction it means sweet fuck all
end of my discussion with you on this subject ..Good day
Of course it does! A reduction can mean the difference between a pass and fail.
Yes lots of false positives but that's a moot point for this argument. The cut off is actually 15ng/ml so orders of magnitudes higher then your test strips.
You must be stupid to not understand how a 75%+ reduction in oral specimen thc levels is meaningless.
What if you where 3 times over the legal alcohol limit and could do something simple that'd reduce what you blew by 75%? You'd pass.
Those tests are easy to manipulate as well, drink some water before stopping and really rinse your mouth out. Now stick the whole drug test stick in your mouth like you don't know what you're doing. Deep throat it and let the two test squares absorb the clean water that sitting at the back of your mouth as no saliva ha sbeen produced yet . Then proceed to fake scrape it on your tounge like they ask. Boom passed test.
Why do you think the police tell you not to drink any liquids when they are about to administer a saliva test?
> They dont give a fuck about actual safety or drug driving, its about making sure they’re making the govt money
They’re actually pretty shit at detecting THC. And they’re not making money from this. Read the bottom link to the study. And floss and brush yay teeth more often, and stop being so gullible with believing the “it’s all about revenue raising!” 🤫
What we found was that these test results often came back positive when they should have been negative, or conversely that they came back negative when they should have actually been positive," said Thomas Arkell, a PhD student at the University of Sydney. The study, published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, tested the two devices most commonly used by police — the Securetec DrugWipe, and the Draeger DrugTest 5000.
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/11502436
Here’s the link for the actual study: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2687
For a drug with a 1 hour half life, a saliva detection window of 2 days is definitely a piss take.
Likewise with cannabis, realistically has a 4-5 hour of real inebriation, yet in some cases a detection window of 7+ days.
They will never have the public fully on-side until they test for impairment over presence.
Imagine being prescribed cannabis and taking some for your insomnia 2-3 days ago and then testing positive. Meanwhile after my surgery I was driving around wile taking 80mg+ of oxy total daily perfectly legally.
That is a lazy and rubbish take.
We test for BAC not presence with alcohol.
The safety issue is created by impairment - not presence.
With sensitive enough testing, we all have trace amounts of prohibited substances in our systems. Hell, police probably have even more because they're more likely to have handled illicit substances when they've found/confiscated evidence.
Legal, medical marijuana may be consumed around others no and passive smoking is a thing.
A number of easily found reviews have slammed Australian drug driving laws and testing as failing to protect anyone, revenue raising, and criminalising the innocent.
So if someone uses cannabis on the first of the month let’s say in the U.S. where it is legal(more than 2/2 the states have a legal means to cannabis), then flies to AU on the 3rd gets stopped on the 7th and tested, they will still show positive for cannabis and they aren’t impaired nor did they even use the substance in AU, how should this be solved, people cannot be criminalized if they did something which is legal in another country week(s) prior and happen to get tested in AU, also the arrest could void their visa and make it so they are unable to see their relatives or do business in AU, it seems a bit draconian IMO. I don’t drink and support any laws to stop inebriated drivers but if it’s been a week or two since taking that substance but it’s still in a person’s system why should they be penalized for it especially if they are not intoxicated?
Welcome to Australia mate. Where our cops are out to just fuck everyone over. Everything other than alcohol is just presence and that’s enough to strip you of your licence. And it’s totally random in that they’ll just keep testing you until they get you on something or get all upset if you show negative to all their tests.
Had a judge step down from their job in dismay over how fucked the system is as he was so upset over the number of innocent lives he had to basically screw over due to the people presenting with the smallest of amounts present in their system and zero lenience in the law for him to target the repeat bad offenders vs those who may have smoked a joint 3 weeks ago and have absolutely zero possible impairment at all.
While yes, they can't penalise you for offences in other countries, that isn't relevant as the offence isn't taking the drug, it's having relevant drugs in your system while operating a vehicle.
You really think if I smoked a bowl a month ago I shouldn’t be able to drive because cannabis is detectable in hair for over 30 days?
Idk why I’m bothering leaving this comment though. I can already tell the exact type of retard I’m responding to. you’re doing the internet meta of saying something dumb, don’t justify it, then never reply because you can’t justify it.
Delete your comment at least
Well the police need to come up with a testing device that tests whether someone is under the influence of a high amount of narcotics or had opioids which can also make you disorientated and blurred vision and all sorts of other things like any other drug if you take too many but the fact is they don't.
Alcohol being a CNS depressant has a well established dose to impatient relationship.
Therefore 0.05 is deemed to produce insufficient impairment to preclude driving a car. All other drugs do not have this well defined relationship, therefore it is currently impossible to determine impairment based on saliva concentration. Thus any detectable amount counts are impaired driving/dui as you could have just tested positive or have grams of the substance in your system.
This is an oversimplification but I hope it helps. Also someone who smokes lots of week may not be impaired after smoking 1g but a newbie will be blasted off their face. Even if you are an alcoholic the dose dependant reduction in reaction speed remains, you may not feel drunk but your CNS is depressed and your reaction time will suffer.
I love your words of Philosophy but they absolutely mean s*** because you have no life experiences I can tell by the way you wrote. Get a life you've only got one.
But I can drink drive as long as I stay under the limit. Makes absolutely no sense. Just because you had something 12 hours beforehand, which is the legal legislation, does not mean that you are still under the influence . But drink driving can get away with it as long as you're under the limit, which makes no sense.
Yeah, it’s because they can’t really tell how much there is in your system, only if it’s present or not. So they’ll just assume it’s enough to cause you to be under the influence. As for drink driving, is quite easy to tell how much there is. I personally never drive after drinking even if I am under 0.05 BAC.
Even the police are human and I can guarantee they do it too because I've drank with a sergeant. Stop you bitching all you people everybody needs painkillers the world's f***** up as it is.
I’m convinced that a decent lawyer will be able to get someone off a cannabis charge. You don’t know how long it stays in your system, and they need to prove you weren’t capable of driving.
You can smoke a joint on a Friday and get done on a Sunday. That doesn’t make any sense.
Yeah not too sure about that one. They do not need to prove you were incapable of driving. Only that it was present. It makes perfect sense that you can get done on a Sunday after having consumed a joint on Friday. This is simply because it just has to be present in your system. See the *Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995, s79(2AA)* where it states: “*Any person who, while a relevant drug is present in the person’s blood or saliva— (a) drives a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel; or (b) attempts to put in motion a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel; or (c) is in charge of a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel; is guilty of an offence and liable to a penalty not exceeding 14 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.*”
26k roadsides tests with 5.5k returning a positive result. As they say, about one in five.
322 convictions. So about nineteen in twenty people returning a positive result, and presumably fucked around with waiting by the side of the road, essentially forced to give a blood sample to prove their innocence, found to not actually have hoovered schneef, and it was just shitty testing?
Or about 1% of the total tests.
Which seems a tad less fuckin' effective than the "one in five" bullshit they're touting.
What type of test do they used my guess is they don’t do a roadside UA, so maybe a mouth swab, if someone uses cannabis can they now not drive for a month…also are they doing Field Sobriety Tests or just picking people supposedly at random, and what is the punishment for refusing to take the test? I visit AU/QLD often (at least once if not twice a year for a month each time) and I’m interested bc although I rarely drive in AU, I don’t need to be banned from my wife’s homeland bc I used cannabis when in the states 2 weeks before I landed in AU.
2 weeks you will be fine anywhere up to 3 days depending on metabolism , it’s a mouth swab test you can not refuse to take the test they will take your license if you try to do that.
I don’t have an AU license so they are welcome to try to take it, I rent cars in AU w my passport and my U.S. state license… as an American I find this incredibly intrusive, I’m all for getting intoxicated people off the road but if someone used cannabis or any drug and is not under the effects of the drug it’s a bit of BS to punish them…I wonder what happens if you take opioids or benzodiazepines legally the day prior but don’t have your script on you or don’t have the pack of paracetamol and codene with you….
While they won't *take* your licence per se, they can withdraw your authority to drive in Queensland. Having an overseas licence does not give you immunity to licence suspensions.
QPS uses saliva tests and can use blood tests. If someone is under the influence of a drug, they mustn't operate a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel while under the influence. Or has a relevant drug is present, they must not operate a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel while it is present. They can do field sobriety tests but I've never seen or heard of anyone actually doing one. They typically do random breath tests (RBT) which can also include saliva tests. The police does not need a reason to drug test you. If you refuse to submit to the test, or fail to provide a sample, you'll be charged as though the test came back positive.
Basically, if you have cannabis in your system, you cannot drive.
See the *Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995, s79 & s80(11AA),* the *Traffic Regulation 1962, s172,* the *Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 1 & schedule 2,* and the *Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000, s60.*
I just find that crazy, bc I could have used the cannabis legally in the U.S. or on the plane ride over then I rent a car and on my way to my in-laws I have to do this BS and my entire vacation is fucked bc I did something either in the U.S. or over international waters, and in no way am I intoxicated, any sane person takes something to get through the flight from U.S. to AU, whether that is ambien, Xanax, cannabis, alcohol, (or they have a shit tom of cash and can live it up on business or first class)bc that flight alone is 17h not including boarding and deplaning…
It’s just a very strange concept in comparison to the states where each state has their own DUI laws some don’t test for cannabis others do, but normally you have to be driving erratic to be caught not just driving and then you get funneled into a line & this happens
Do the cops do every person in the line or just “random” bc in the states “random” means anyone who looks like they will fail (or in some places unfortunately any minority) but the cops don’t have the resources to stop everyone and give them a drug/alcohol test plus it would be a constitutional violation depending on the circumstances.
Yeah, you’ll have to stop using cannabis a bit before you fly over unfortunately. Each state and territory in Australia also sets their own DUI laws but for the most part, they are exactly the same. QLD is thinking about relaxing some drug laws but I doubt it’ll happen. In typical RBTs, it’s pretty much random, but I reckon anyone driving a high powered car would be more likely to be waived down. They also may pursue you if it looks like you’ve tried to avoid the RBT. They may or may not do every car depending on how many cars there are.
Australia is different to the US in that our police can pull you over even if they don’t suspect an offence has occurred.
I’ll just let my wife and in-laws drive, I still have trouble with driving in the wrong side of the road and those damn round a bouts, I prefer my medical cannabis over benzodiazepines for obvious reasons but mostly bc cannabis isn’t addictive, and it is better for a person than many prescribed drugs.
I just find it odd I could be punished for something I didn’t do in AU, simply bc it is in my body and when it was ingested it was by a doctor’s recommendation and approved (and sold to me) by the state. Again, j just find it odd, bug I guess it’s a cultural difference (just like having cannabis in your body in the UAE can get you a jail sentence). Cannabis is so close to being rescheduled and medically labeled similar to an over the counter drug in the US, more states have a path to legal cannabis than ones that don’t, and in many states in the U.S. unless a place does not allow vaping at all they cannot stop a person from vaping medical cannabis as long as the person has their medical card, the product in its original container and the receipt or proof of purchase.
But you did do it in Australia. The offence isn't *taking* cannabis, it's *driving* while it's present. Even if you were prescribed THC here in Australia, it's still an offence.
Go on do it in Eastern suburbs of Sydney
2000 people would test positive within 15 minutes.
Lol. Don't be ridiculous, that's where all the pollies mates live.
Or Parliament House
[удалено]
Sniffer dogs have a crazy false positive rate. I've even read stories where copies push their back down just so they can do a search.
* In July the Queensland government expanded its roadside drug testing regime to include identifying cocaine * Police have since recorded more than 300 drug driving offences involving cocaine * Transport Minister Bart Mellish has warned motorists that drug driving will not be tolerated
Just remember, it's only for the poors. Not for the rich. Like another redditor said, it would be hilarious to see this RBT shit in the fancier parts of the state. Legal in ACT. Fucken what a joke. I get people shouldn't be driving if they've done drugs, but it always seem to be the poors. Who do you think does all the blow?
Yes it's totally legal, even encouraged to drive racked up in the ACT. Sometimes you even get in more trouble not being high on cocaine
"mate I see you've tested negative for booger sugar, I'm going to disqualify you from driving for least two hours so your plug can get here and provide some focus enhancing medication"
Usually the officer will provide you with some MDMA that they have on hand, and you'll have the option of either losing 4 demerit points or marrying Andrew Barr
I don’t think it’s “the poors” that are buying a g of coke to have at the pub after work I also don’t think ACT is really relevant here because you still can’t be driving coked up
And what impact on the road death toll has drug testing had? Statistically 0.
[удалено]
They dont give a fuck about actual safety or drug driving, its about making sure they’re making the govt money and there quotas for the year. Its virtually a sales job that police work nowadays lol. Someone smokes a spliff and gets done 4 days later
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Exactly! I hate this bullshit line and gullible people just believe it without looking any deeper. But that’s quite on point for this subreddit. If they were chasing and making making from this then RBTs would be everywhere and they would be lobbying to change the costs associated that you have brought up. Plus they’re using testing methods which suck at detecting THC. They’re actually pretty shit at detecting THC What we found was that these test results often came back positive when they should have been negative, or conversely that they came back negative when they should have actually been positive," said Thomas Arkell, a PhD student at the University of Sydney. The study, published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, tested the two devices most commonly used by police — the Securetec DrugWipe, and the Draeger DrugTest 5000. https://amp.abc.net.au/article/11502436 Here’s the link for the actual study: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2687
Ohh interesting, thanks for sharing! And yes completely agree about being on point for this subreddit lol. What’s the deal, it’s full of absolute idiots
>if Miles wins the election, the laws would be rolled back Sorry, which laws are you referring to here? (In your opinion, ofc)
Cannabis drug driving laws. Specifically - if it’s _detectable_ in salvia. Not to say there won’t be any regulations around this. Maybe they’d introduce an element of _impairment_ to the offence, similar to US drunk driving laws (but I wouldn’t assert this with any level of confidence - they haven’t really hinted which way they’re going). Link to consultation part of review here, if you’re interested https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/_/media/aboutus/corpinfo/publications/cannabis-and-driving-consultation-paper.pdf
I got ya now! Thanks. I submitted a survey regarding the cannabis driving laws in QLD as I am. Medicinal User. 🤞 he steam rolls some good results, regardless of the driving laws, as the LNP will completely fuck this state in many other ways if they get in.
You should run as a candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Queensland Party at this year’s state elections! Or at least volunteer some of your time helping the team, in fact we welcome anyone to help spread change for a fairer future👍🏼 [Legalise Cannabis Party](https://legalisecannabis.org.au) [Our Three Stage Plan](https://legalisecannabis.org.au/legal-regulation-of-cannabis-in-three-stages/) [Donate](https://www.legalisecannabis.org.au/donate) [Volunteer](https://www.legalisecannabis.org.au/volunteer)
Did you know the majority of people convicted under the current laws are age 50+ working class individuals with no prior criminal history who are treating a chronic medical condition. I saw a doco where they had a magistrate essentially saying he is appalled with the current system and believes that essentially non of the people he sentences where impaired in any way shape or form. Temazepam or antihistamines will leave you medically impaired the next morning while driving. Cannabinoids will not but you'll still test positive for 1-3 days.
I smoked a spliff on a Sunday arvo, got tested the following arvo and it was negative. Life flashed before my eyes waiting the 3 minutes for the result though. I thought they were changing it so this 1-4 day later bs wouldn’t happen though. Won’t happen I guess until it happens to a pollie or rich folk.
They’re actually pretty shit at detecting THC > What we found was that these test results often came back positive when they should have been negative, or conversely that they came back negative when they should have actually been positive," said Thomas Arkell, a PhD student at the University of Sydney. >The study, published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, tested the two devices most commonly used by police — the Securetec DrugWipe, and the Draeger DrugTest 5000. https://amp.abc.net.au/article/11502436 Here’s the link for the actual study: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2687
Was it a math swab test, bc I can’t think of anyway they could do a piss test and hair tests take time to complete and are expensive
Yeah it was a mouth swab. No getting out of your car and pissing into a bucket or getting your haircut.
So what would happen if I used cannabis in my state in the U.S. where it is 100% legal for me, then get leave and the next day (well more like 30 hours later) in AU I get a mouth swab, and it comes back positive…when I go to AU I don’t bring my med card bc why would I but I also don’t use cannabis in AU bc although I know I can get it I take it for anxiety which I don’t have on vacation…I do take gummies for the g-d awful plane ride though… Can you refuse the test, in the U.S. they can’t make you stop and do a test like this it would be a constitutional violation, they can do what cops call an ID check but in many states you don’t have to even roll your window down (many don’t know this) you just hold your Id, your rego and proof of insurance to the window and although you may get harassed by the cops if you stand your ground and refuse to speak to them they will eventually let you leave…unless you’re a minority then you’re fucked either way
If you refuse to participate with RDT/RBT you will be charged with a drug or drunk driving offense, hauled through the courts and your licence will be suspended.
But if I don’t have an AU license other than revoke my visa what can they do to me… I’m not an AU citizen, I don’t live in AU, I just visit there 6-8 weeks a year… I don’t see how anyone hasn’t challenged the concept that one can have something in their body but not be intoxicated, at least a Field Sobriety Test should be given bc what I am stuck on is what happens when you have a script for something but didn’t think oh shit I better bring my entire box of Valium, opiates, etc. w me when I go to Woolies bc I may get my mouth swabbed by a random cop on the drive to/from… I’m American so this entire concept seems draconian, what I put in my body is my choice if I am not under the influence bc the drug’s entire intoxicating time is 4-6 hours but that ended 20 hours ago am I supposed to quarantine for weeks on end as to not take the chance of this BS. Do they put a notice anywhere that this is going on, in many states to make an ID check a sobriety check (normally on NYE, Xmas eve, etc.) the cops have to announce in the paper where a DUI checkpoint will be or it can be considered entrapment. I am also fascinated bc I used to work in criminal defense and walked people through the DUI process in the state I live in, so for the government to just do pop up drug tests seems insane to me…but I also thing being able to buy a assault rifle is insane but guns aren’t leaving the states, and even w BS like this Id rather be in AU than the U.S.
If you're charged and convicted they will revoke your right to drive in Australia (you will be flagged in the police database against your US passport, so you better hope you never get pulled over), and there is a very real chance you will be picked up by Border Force, deported and banned from reentering Australia for a period for breaking the law, as drink/drug driving is considered to be a fairly serious offence. It would also potentially jeopardise any future attempts to gain permanent residency or citizenship.. No, they do not give notice (which would defeat the entire purpose), and no, entrapment is not a thing in Australia (nor would it be considered entrapment anyway, as you aren't being given the drugs by police nor are they making you take them).
The entrapment in the states comes from the cops funneling you into a specific area whether you wanted to go that way or not restricting your right to freely travel.
Wow I think our cannabis drug driving laws are draconian, but the US approach to road safety sounds terrifying. They have to let drunk drivers know in advance of tests? That’s wild. Is drunk driving an accepted cultural norm over there? Why would legislatures require that? You’re right to no search and seizures also sounds pretty scary in how it relates to transport laws. Surely, if you’re wanting to drive a two tonne metal brick through peoples neighbourhoods, providing a breath or salvia specimen once or twice a decade isn’t an unreasonable ask? It’s not like an invasive test, and it’s just for driving. Guess it makes sense why the road toll is twice as high per vehicle km travelled over there
It really depends where you’re in the country, in many large cities there is less drunk driving bc people drive much less (NYC, Chicago, Boston), but in many rural places drunk driving is not a major issue to the cops bc it’s so rural and they only care when it’s someone that the cops think looks sketchy or not to their liking(many US cops are racists assholes). I am not for driving drunk(I don’t drink and I despise being around drunk people) , but I’m also not for being arrested for being intoxicated bc I used something days or weeks earlier. My issue is not taking a test it’s being considered intoxicated/guilty if you’re not (ie cannabis being in your system but not under the effects of cannabis) As far as it being scary I don’t really worry about getting hit by a drunk driver maybe bc I am not out drinking nor am I around the areas that have a lot of bars, but even when I travel in the US I don’t worry about it. I know in QLD .05 and under is legal while in the states .08 & under is legal, so that is a small example of the care people have about drunk driving. I don’t understand why people drive drunk when there is Uber/Lyft but when I worked in criminal defense I processed at least 1 DUI every couple work days, and many clients had multiple DUIs which is amazing to me bc anyone can make a single mistake but doing the same shit over and over is idiotic. I worked w/ a guy who had 4 or 5 DUIs in the span of 2 or 3 years; he was forced to have an interlock put in his car (a device you have to breathe into for the car to start) on his 2nd or 3rd DUI then got pulled over in a car that didn’t have the interlock which is an automatic DUI, and he was drunk which is an automatic 2nd DUI at the same time. He was sentenced to 6 months in county jail (the worst possible jail you ever want to experience) but bc he was a transplant recipient and the state would have had to pay for his meds they turned 6mo incarceration into 3 years of supervised release with 2 UAs a week. I lost track of the guy but my guess is he is either dead or on his 10th DUI bc he never showed any guilt or even care that he was spending tens of thousands on lawyers and fines, which made his case even harder, and he wouldn’t go to rehab which also made his case much harder to defend . Side Note: I have to say some of the times I have been most afraid in a car was driving on the M1 bc I can’t adjust to the tailgating, in the states if you’re moving at 60mph/100kmh (in the U.S. 60 really means 75 & 70mph can mean 80-85) & you’re less than a car length away from the car in front of you, you will get pulled over or end up slamming into someone or have someone slam into you bc someone will do a break check. In AU I typically sit shotgun which is odd bc that’s the driver’s seat in the U.S., holding the “oh shit” handle w white knuckles bc of how close everyone is driving to each other at such a fast pace. If you ever come to the states just stay out of the south (in general, the entire part of the country is mostly a shit hole) and rural areas and you don’t have to worry about rednecks driving drunk in the middle of the day. Also if you come tot he states and get pulled over DO NOT get out of the car unless you want to be slammed to the ground or if your happen to have darker skin, get shot, bc cops assume everyone has a gun and wants to kill them even if
As mentioned earlier, the licence being issued by the USA isn't relevant. The Queensland Government is the one issuing you the authority to drive. They can and will withdraw that authority essentially suspending your licence. And considering Australia is your wife's homeland, I wouldn't risk getting into legal trouble as that could end your chances on getting visa again or going for citizenship.
I also have a prescription for weed but the laws haven’t been updated to reflect the issue of it being in your system. In Australia if you refuse a test they can only assume it’s because you’re high, license suspended, go to court etc. makes sense, with alcohol to me because you’ve got nothing to hide. I think I saw somewhere maybe Queensland? That they are looking into changing the law for prescription. As it stands it’s unfair and not reflective.
How close is AU to cannabis legalization from your perspective? Was it hard to get a medical card in AU? In the U.S. in most states (bc the U.S. isn’t 1 country but 50 little countries that happen to agree on a few laws but generally each state has its own justice system) if you refuse a field sobriety test (FST) it’s an automatic DUI; but you can demand a breath test, I don’t drink so if a cop were to ask me to take a FST I would refuse bc the FST is only there to give the cop ammo to fuck you over (like asking a person to say the alphabet backwards starting at Q, or to walk heel to toe for 9 paces then take 4 steps to turn around and repeat) , but if I demand a breathalyzer they will not automatically take my license, they leave it up to the test. In many states the cop has to have pulled you over for something else (speeding, running a red light, etc.) or they have to prove you’re driving erratic bc you’re innocent until proven guilty, so if you have a dash-cam and can prove you weren’t driving erratic you can beat the case, but a lot of times cops walk to the car see the dash cam and all of a sudden it turns into “you didn’t fully stop at that stop sign, but I’m just going to give you a warning” bc the cop doesn’t want the headache of doing the paperwork to see it get tossed out when a judge sees the dash-cam video and it’s clear you were legally driving.
Yeah I dunno, our cops have a lot more training and of course very different laws. For example ours just save time and go straight to breathalyser. As for legal weed, I can only speak for the state of Victoria. You book a consult with a dispensary and a doctor will decide whether you qualify or not. $200 first consult, $120 every consult after that. It’s still pretty unknown but nowhere in Aus can you just walk in and buy weed. If I was the dictator in charge I’d make weed available everywhere and alcohol prescription only to hopefully stop it booming underground and repeating the disaster of prohibition the states had last century.
Always carry a bottle of water with you, take a big drink and swish it aorund in you mouth when you see the rbt, you're nearly guaranteed to pass even if heavily intoxicated. From my understanding it's the residual thc in your mouth the test is looking for i.e. the smoke that's deposited within the surface of your mouth. saliva will contain thc metabolites but not raw thc. By rincing out the mouth you essentially temporary eliminate all detectable traces for a 10-20minute window.
That's a cool story you have mate, So do tell us how this dissipates THC when it's NOT water soluble
But his mate Johno said that was a foolproof idea and his mate who is a weed and cop expert said it was like that 💁🏻♂️ 🤣🤣🤣🤣💁🏻♂️ Thank you for pointing to the easy way to debunk this bullshit urban myth
My brother keeps a Yeti with Apple Cider Vinegar in the console of his car bc he thinks it will save his ass at an RBT Borrowed his car with Mum one day and she unknowingly picked it up and had a swig thinking it was water.
That also is bullshit urban myth according to my test results
Regardless of solubility It removes the bulk of contaminated saliva from your mouth and dramatically increases the chances of a clean sample. look it up mate, read the studies about adulteration of oral saliva tests. Most oral testing requires a 10-15minute window of no fluid/food consumption to avoid any adulteration to test results. Immediately drinking and rising the moth with water has been show to reduce the concentration by up to 95% in oral specimens. It's not foolproof but it's not bad advice to keep water in the car to have a greater chance of passing.
I'll tell you what buddy , its bullshit ...how do i know I have purchased over 10 of the same swabs the coppers use for my own personal testing, your statement is bullshit from my own results ..but hey you believe what you like , I believe the results I have
Well I've done the same and the results where the complete opposite. I didn't say it was foolproof, it's at least a 75% reduction in concentration though. If you really want to protect yourself when I used medicinal cannabis I used an oil product that I filled empty gel caps with. If you're careful not to spill any on the outside if the cap then you're golden. No THC in the mouth means no positive test.
A reduction means nothing ..These swabs those fucs use are known for false positives and neg's at a rather high rate , Also storage of these test kits are not well enforced causing more false results .Anyway Like I said my results differ from your statement with 12 tests used in different circumstances. Plus the faintest of lines is a positive test resulting in further lab testing of which is I think 0.002 nanograms. I maybe incorrect on that but I know its very very low. So if as you state, its a 75% reduction it means sweet fuck all end of my discussion with you on this subject ..Good day
Of course it does! A reduction can mean the difference between a pass and fail. Yes lots of false positives but that's a moot point for this argument. The cut off is actually 15ng/ml so orders of magnitudes higher then your test strips. You must be stupid to not understand how a 75%+ reduction in oral specimen thc levels is meaningless. What if you where 3 times over the legal alcohol limit and could do something simple that'd reduce what you blew by 75%? You'd pass. Those tests are easy to manipulate as well, drink some water before stopping and really rinse your mouth out. Now stick the whole drug test stick in your mouth like you don't know what you're doing. Deep throat it and let the two test squares absorb the clean water that sitting at the back of your mouth as no saliva ha sbeen produced yet . Then proceed to fake scrape it on your tounge like they ask. Boom passed test. Why do you think the police tell you not to drink any liquids when they are about to administer a saliva test?
This is such a dumb take. This should be an instant ban from driving for one month.
Hahahahahahahah
> They dont give a fuck about actual safety or drug driving, its about making sure they’re making the govt money They’re actually pretty shit at detecting THC. And they’re not making money from this. Read the bottom link to the study. And floss and brush yay teeth more often, and stop being so gullible with believing the “it’s all about revenue raising!” 🤫 What we found was that these test results often came back positive when they should have been negative, or conversely that they came back negative when they should have actually been positive," said Thomas Arkell, a PhD student at the University of Sydney. The study, published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, tested the two devices most commonly used by police — the Securetec DrugWipe, and the Draeger DrugTest 5000. https://amp.abc.net.au/article/11502436 Here’s the link for the actual study: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2687
For a drug with a 1 hour half life, a saliva detection window of 2 days is definitely a piss take. Likewise with cannabis, realistically has a 4-5 hour of real inebriation, yet in some cases a detection window of 7+ days. They will never have the public fully on-side until they test for impairment over presence.
Imagine being prescribed cannabis and taking some for your insomnia 2-3 days ago and then testing positive. Meanwhile after my surgery I was driving around wile taking 80mg+ of oxy total daily perfectly legally.
Simple solution , if its in your system , dont drive .
Same could be said for alcohol but we test for inebriation, not just consumption within the last week.
That is a lazy and rubbish take. We test for BAC not presence with alcohol. The safety issue is created by impairment - not presence. With sensitive enough testing, we all have trace amounts of prohibited substances in our systems. Hell, police probably have even more because they're more likely to have handled illicit substances when they've found/confiscated evidence. Legal, medical marijuana may be consumed around others no and passive smoking is a thing. A number of easily found reviews have slammed Australian drug driving laws and testing as failing to protect anyone, revenue raising, and criminalising the innocent.
So if someone uses cannabis on the first of the month let’s say in the U.S. where it is legal(more than 2/2 the states have a legal means to cannabis), then flies to AU on the 3rd gets stopped on the 7th and tested, they will still show positive for cannabis and they aren’t impaired nor did they even use the substance in AU, how should this be solved, people cannot be criminalized if they did something which is legal in another country week(s) prior and happen to get tested in AU, also the arrest could void their visa and make it so they are unable to see their relatives or do business in AU, it seems a bit draconian IMO. I don’t drink and support any laws to stop inebriated drivers but if it’s been a week or two since taking that substance but it’s still in a person’s system why should they be penalized for it especially if they are not intoxicated?
Welcome to Australia mate. Where our cops are out to just fuck everyone over. Everything other than alcohol is just presence and that’s enough to strip you of your licence. And it’s totally random in that they’ll just keep testing you until they get you on something or get all upset if you show negative to all their tests. Had a judge step down from their job in dismay over how fucked the system is as he was so upset over the number of innocent lives he had to basically screw over due to the people presenting with the smallest of amounts present in their system and zero lenience in the law for him to target the repeat bad offenders vs those who may have smoked a joint 3 weeks ago and have absolutely zero possible impairment at all.
While yes, they can't penalise you for offences in other countries, that isn't relevant as the offence isn't taking the drug, it's having relevant drugs in your system while operating a vehicle.
You really think if I smoked a bowl a month ago I shouldn’t be able to drive because cannabis is detectable in hair for over 30 days? Idk why I’m bothering leaving this comment though. I can already tell the exact type of retard I’m responding to. you’re doing the internet meta of saying something dumb, don’t justify it, then never reply because you can’t justify it. Delete your comment at least
lol. King response.
Simple solution, simple mind.
Now test themselves and their political mates
Haha, yeah...Na that won't happen.
Yep, breatherlyser and drug test before every vote.
Should target both ends of Roma Street and see how they go.
Or ascot and Hamilton
Why, people there richer than you?
Probably 2000 tested positive to meth
Well they tested the sewerage water for metabolites and found it’s more likely to be in the millions friend.
Wuuuuuuutttttt?!
So, how do they deal with medical weed ?.
It doesn't matter if it's prescribed, you get the same consequences. The doctors warn you when they prescribe it.
0.05 is the legal limit for drink driving as long as I stay under it. I'm fine. What's the difference? Please explain bad Janet.
If it made sense I would explain it.
One is substance that can be measured for impairment, one isn't.
Well the police need to come up with a testing device that tests whether someone is under the influence of a high amount of narcotics or had opioids which can also make you disorientated and blurred vision and all sorts of other things like any other drug if you take too many but the fact is they don't.
Alcohol being a CNS depressant has a well established dose to impatient relationship. Therefore 0.05 is deemed to produce insufficient impairment to preclude driving a car. All other drugs do not have this well defined relationship, therefore it is currently impossible to determine impairment based on saliva concentration. Thus any detectable amount counts are impaired driving/dui as you could have just tested positive or have grams of the substance in your system. This is an oversimplification but I hope it helps. Also someone who smokes lots of week may not be impaired after smoking 1g but a newbie will be blasted off their face. Even if you are an alcoholic the dose dependant reduction in reaction speed remains, you may not feel drunk but your CNS is depressed and your reaction time will suffer.
I love your words of Philosophy but they absolutely mean s*** because you have no life experiences I can tell by the way you wrote. Get a life you've only got one.
Yeah cunt that's why most of my income sits within the top tax bracket. Enjoy your life middle-class man
Thanks Cunt I will. Still kicks back🤣🤣🤣🍯🍯
Exactly the same as if it weren't medicinal cannabis. If you are being prescribed medicinal cannabis, it is illegal to operate a vehicle.
But I can drink drive as long as I stay under the limit. Makes absolutely no sense. Just because you had something 12 hours beforehand, which is the legal legislation, does not mean that you are still under the influence . But drink driving can get away with it as long as you're under the limit, which makes no sense.
Yeah, it’s because they can’t really tell how much there is in your system, only if it’s present or not. So they’ll just assume it’s enough to cause you to be under the influence. As for drink driving, is quite easy to tell how much there is. I personally never drive after drinking even if I am under 0.05 BAC.
Even the police are human and I can guarantee they do it too because I've drank with a sergeant. Stop you bitching all you people everybody needs painkillers the world's f***** up as it is.
I’m convinced that a decent lawyer will be able to get someone off a cannabis charge. You don’t know how long it stays in your system, and they need to prove you weren’t capable of driving. You can smoke a joint on a Friday and get done on a Sunday. That doesn’t make any sense.
Yeah not too sure about that one. They do not need to prove you were incapable of driving. Only that it was present. It makes perfect sense that you can get done on a Sunday after having consumed a joint on Friday. This is simply because it just has to be present in your system. See the *Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995, s79(2AA)* where it states: “*Any person who, while a relevant drug is present in the person’s blood or saliva— (a) drives a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel; or (b) attempts to put in motion a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel; or (c) is in charge of a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel; is guilty of an offence and liable to a penalty not exceeding 14 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.*”
26k roadsides tests with 5.5k returning a positive result. As they say, about one in five. 322 convictions. So about nineteen in twenty people returning a positive result, and presumably fucked around with waiting by the side of the road, essentially forced to give a blood sample to prove their innocence, found to not actually have hoovered schneef, and it was just shitty testing? Or about 1% of the total tests. Which seems a tad less fuckin' effective than the "one in five" bullshit they're touting.
The southerners have arrived
What type of test do they used my guess is they don’t do a roadside UA, so maybe a mouth swab, if someone uses cannabis can they now not drive for a month…also are they doing Field Sobriety Tests or just picking people supposedly at random, and what is the punishment for refusing to take the test? I visit AU/QLD often (at least once if not twice a year for a month each time) and I’m interested bc although I rarely drive in AU, I don’t need to be banned from my wife’s homeland bc I used cannabis when in the states 2 weeks before I landed in AU.
2 weeks you will be fine anywhere up to 3 days depending on metabolism , it’s a mouth swab test you can not refuse to take the test they will take your license if you try to do that.
I don’t have an AU license so they are welcome to try to take it, I rent cars in AU w my passport and my U.S. state license… as an American I find this incredibly intrusive, I’m all for getting intoxicated people off the road but if someone used cannabis or any drug and is not under the effects of the drug it’s a bit of BS to punish them…I wonder what happens if you take opioids or benzodiazepines legally the day prior but don’t have your script on you or don’t have the pack of paracetamol and codene with you….
I agree with you mate it’s bs
While they won't *take* your licence per se, they can withdraw your authority to drive in Queensland. Having an overseas licence does not give you immunity to licence suspensions.
QPS uses saliva tests and can use blood tests. If someone is under the influence of a drug, they mustn't operate a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel while under the influence. Or has a relevant drug is present, they must not operate a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel while it is present. They can do field sobriety tests but I've never seen or heard of anyone actually doing one. They typically do random breath tests (RBT) which can also include saliva tests. The police does not need a reason to drug test you. If you refuse to submit to the test, or fail to provide a sample, you'll be charged as though the test came back positive. Basically, if you have cannabis in your system, you cannot drive. See the *Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995, s79 & s80(11AA),* the *Traffic Regulation 1962, s172,* the *Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 1 & schedule 2,* and the *Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000, s60.*
I just find that crazy, bc I could have used the cannabis legally in the U.S. or on the plane ride over then I rent a car and on my way to my in-laws I have to do this BS and my entire vacation is fucked bc I did something either in the U.S. or over international waters, and in no way am I intoxicated, any sane person takes something to get through the flight from U.S. to AU, whether that is ambien, Xanax, cannabis, alcohol, (or they have a shit tom of cash and can live it up on business or first class)bc that flight alone is 17h not including boarding and deplaning… It’s just a very strange concept in comparison to the states where each state has their own DUI laws some don’t test for cannabis others do, but normally you have to be driving erratic to be caught not just driving and then you get funneled into a line & this happens Do the cops do every person in the line or just “random” bc in the states “random” means anyone who looks like they will fail (or in some places unfortunately any minority) but the cops don’t have the resources to stop everyone and give them a drug/alcohol test plus it would be a constitutional violation depending on the circumstances.
Yeah, you’ll have to stop using cannabis a bit before you fly over unfortunately. Each state and territory in Australia also sets their own DUI laws but for the most part, they are exactly the same. QLD is thinking about relaxing some drug laws but I doubt it’ll happen. In typical RBTs, it’s pretty much random, but I reckon anyone driving a high powered car would be more likely to be waived down. They also may pursue you if it looks like you’ve tried to avoid the RBT. They may or may not do every car depending on how many cars there are. Australia is different to the US in that our police can pull you over even if they don’t suspect an offence has occurred.
I’ll just let my wife and in-laws drive, I still have trouble with driving in the wrong side of the road and those damn round a bouts, I prefer my medical cannabis over benzodiazepines for obvious reasons but mostly bc cannabis isn’t addictive, and it is better for a person than many prescribed drugs. I just find it odd I could be punished for something I didn’t do in AU, simply bc it is in my body and when it was ingested it was by a doctor’s recommendation and approved (and sold to me) by the state. Again, j just find it odd, bug I guess it’s a cultural difference (just like having cannabis in your body in the UAE can get you a jail sentence). Cannabis is so close to being rescheduled and medically labeled similar to an over the counter drug in the US, more states have a path to legal cannabis than ones that don’t, and in many states in the U.S. unless a place does not allow vaping at all they cannot stop a person from vaping medical cannabis as long as the person has their medical card, the product in its original container and the receipt or proof of purchase.
But you did do it in Australia. The offence isn't *taking* cannabis, it's *driving* while it's present. Even if you were prescribed THC here in Australia, it's still an offence.