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A recommendation to bring in a legal defence for drivers in New South Wales taking medically prescribed cannabis has been rejected for now. The state government has released its response to last year's drug summit, which made 56 recommendations including allowing medicinal cannabis patients to drive when unimpaired. Health Minister Ryan Park said the government would accept 50 of the recommendations but notable proposals would not be adopted. The government said it was "investigating" a medical defence for drivers prescribed cannabis and would consider advice due from an expert working group. A recommendation to allow more than one medically supervised injecting centre to operate in the state also went unsupported. The government has also knocked back a recommendation to abolish the use of sniffer dogs and strip searches for suspected drug possession at music festivals. Last month, the NSW Supreme Court made a landmark ruling involving the illegal strip search of Sydney woman Raya Meredith by NSW Police at the Splendour in the Grass Music Festival in 2018. Ms Meredith was awarded $93,000 in compensation and aggravated damages for assault, battery and false imprisonment and for the way police had conducted the case. Supreme Court Justice Dina Yehia found Ms Meredith, who was 27 at the time, had been subjected to "humiliating" treatment by NSW Police. The case is part of a broader class action, extending to police strip searches at music festivals from 2016. It was a significant loss for the state government and had increased pressure on it to ban strip searches and the use of sniffer dogs at music festivals.
