New research shows how long it takes to reduce cannabis

New research has shown for the first time how long cannabis users are likely to be harmed and when it is safe for them to drive.

The findings, according to researchers and lawyers, strengthen the case for changes to drug management laws in much of Australia.

Researchers from the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney have found that users are harmed for three to ten hours after taking moderate to high doses of the intoxicating ingredient of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

THC can be detected in the body weeks after consuming cannabis, which means users can incur fines and loss of their license even though they are not affected by the drug.

The research, published in Neuroscience & Behavioral Reviews, analyzed 80 scientific studies on the effect of THC on management performance over the past 20 years.

It has been found that the exact level of impairment depends on the dose, whether the THC is oral or inhaled and how often the person uses the drug, among others.

“Our analysis indicates that shortening can take up to ten hours if high doses of THC are consumed orally,” said Danielle McCartney, lead researcher of the study.

“However, a more typical duration of attenuation is four hours when lower doses of THC are consumed by smoking or evaporation and simpler tasks are undertaken.”

The study also found that ordinary cannabis users are less affected by THC than those who sometimes use cannabis.

Dr McCartney said people could be harmed for six or seven hours if higher doses of THC were inhaled and complex tasks, such as driving, were assessed.

Her research is the first comprehensive meta-analysis that provides a time frame for impairment.

“Our testimony should hopefully help people make informed decisions and policymakers make evidence-based and tell people how long to wait before driving,” she said.

The Administration for Therapeutic Goods (TGA) has approved 100,000 prescriptions for medicinal cannabis in Australia.

Lambert’s academic director Iain McGregor said medicinal cannabis users are particularly interested in knowing when it’s safe for them to drive, despite the fact that the law is clear.

“You got this huge amount of prescribed medicine from people who say, ‘You can not drive at all, you can not even have one THC molecule in your system,’ which, you know, is just ridiculous, ‘Professor McGregor said.

“THC can be detected in the body weeks after the use of cannabis, while it is clear that impairment is much shorter. Our legal framework is likely to catch up.”

Former Magistrate David Heilpern said the research shows that laws surrounding drug testing need to change along the way.

Mr. Heilpern retired early, in part because of his frustration at seeing so many patients with medicinal cannabis lose their license and sometimes their livelihood, after being caught driving with small amounts of THC in their system.

“We had a situation where people took their medicine as prescribed, and that they did not drive in an unfavorable way, and yet lost their license, imposed a fine and got a criminal record,” he said. he said.

‘I started driving home from work and thought, I just can not do it.

Mr. Heilpern said that cannabis is the only drug in Australia that you can get on prescription, but that it cannot even drive at an observable level.

He is part of the Cannabis Law Reform Alliance, which advocates for changes to state laws that provide medical cannabis users with a defense if they are in favor of a roadside drug test.

The defense already exists in Tasmania and there are bills before parliament in Victoria and South Australia. The NSW parliament rejects a bill in October.

“In NSW we already have the law, as it applies to morphine,” Mr Heilpern said.

“If you have a detectable level of morphine in your system and you can show that you have a prescription for it, then you have a defense.

“All we have to do is do it for cannabis. It’s a very simple change and it solves the problem.”

Gino Vambaca, co-founder of Harm Reduction Australia, said Australia’s laws punish people for drug use in the past, not for unsafe driving.

“It’s no longer a field safety campaign, it’s a detection and punishment campaign,” he said.

‘We do not condense people who use and drive drugs, but what we are saying is that there is no attempt by the police to even measure impairment.

“We need to say to people who use medicinal cannabis, ‘Do you want to drive, or do you want pain relief, because you can not do both?’

“And it’s a terrible choice for them to have to make.”