Cannabis Use And Driving
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I ask the Minister Assisting the Premier for the Central Coast a question without notice. Is it a fact that the journal of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine recently reported that a survey of Central Coast records showed that more drivers died while intoxicated with cannabis than with alcohol? Is it a fact that young drivers may be substituting cannabis for alcohol in an attempt to beat the police booze bus operations, and that young people believe it is acceptable to drive while under the influence of cannabis? What action is the Government taking to educate young people about the harmful effects of cannabis, as a driver under the influence of cannabis is 6½ times more likely to have a fatal road crash than a driver under the influence of alcohol?
The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: I thank Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes for a very sensible and intelligent question. I am pleased to tell him that the Government is aware of the issue he has raised.
The Hon. Dr Brian Pezzutti: I asked this question some time ago.
The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: But you did not ask it sensibly. You never do! The Government has had under close attention for some time the concern that young people are potentially shifting away from using alcohol as a recreational drug to using a drug like cannabis as they are worried about the detection of a prescribed content of alcohol in relation to traffic-related offences. The Government is concerned about it and is paying close attention to this issue.
The Hon. Dr Brian Pezzutti: No, it isn’t.
The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: The honourable member would not know. If he listens, I will explain it. The Government has put in place a number of measures to ensure that young people are educated about the effects of cannabis. I have previously reported to the House on the successful family matters education program. That program is targeted mainly at parents and families looking for advice that they should give to young people about drug use and where to go for help in cases when drug use is evident. That program provides a whole range of practical, useful and retainable information for that purpose. In addition, the Z-card contains peer group material aimed at explaining to young people the potential legal and medical harms of using cannabis and other drugs.
The New South Wales Government has been actively addressing the issue of drug driving since it took office. The New South Wales drug driving prevention strategy, which ran from 1996 to 2000, and the drug driving prevention action plan 1996-97 were produced in 1996 to address concerns about young people driving under the influence of drugs. The drug smart card, which I mentioned, contains specific information for young people on the issue of drug driving. The smart card is aimed at young people aged 11 to 17 years. Some 360,000 cards were distributed around the State between April and June 2002. In February this year I established a new drug driving task force, chaired by the Motor Accidents Authority, to examine the existing legislation and new evidence regarding the harms of using cannabis and driving.
The task force includes representatives from Police, Health, the Office of Drug Policy, the Attorney General’s Department, and the Roads and Traffic Authority. The task force is closely examining the issues of concern in relation to drugs and driving. The Government will be looking carefully at further measures to tackle the problem of drug driving in New South Wales. Specifically, the Government will be in a position shortly to launch a targeted advertising campaign looking at the use of cannabis by young people and encouraging young people to have due regard to the legal, safety and personal issues with respect to cannabis.
The Government has taken on the issue of cannabis substitution for alcohol and driving harm. We have been responding to the issue, but obviously more needs to be done. As Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes pointed out, there are alarming statistics in a number of areas, and they are under close examination by the Government, especially the Minister for Police, the Minister for Health and me. I believe we have evolved a strategy to deal with this problem. Other measures that are being put in place will be the subject of announcements in the immediate future.
