NSW Drug Driving Offences & Penalties
Drug Driving Lawyers– In the state of New South Wales the courts take drug driving offences very seriously taking into consideration a range of various issues including what type of drug is in your system, whether you are affected by the drug at the time of driving, your compliance with drug screening procedures, whether you have been associated with an accident and of course your previous driving history.
There are a large variety of drug driving associated charges that can be used by authorities nevertheless, below you can find the 6 primary drug driving offences that you can be accused of under New South Wales state laws:
1. Existence of certain drugs (other than alcohol) in oral fluid, blood or urine;
2. Offence of driving under the influence of drugs;
3. Rejection or failure to go through a drug test;
4. Wilfully changing quantity of drug prior to submitting an oral fluid test;
5. Failure to supply blood or urine sample by motorist or supervisor involved in a casualty;
6. Failure to provide a blood or urine sample or change result outcome of drug in blood prior to screening.
There are extremely particular standards and penalties set down by law for which the courts of NSW have to strictly abide by, a few of these penalties consist of:
1st Drug Driving Offence within 5 years
| Maximum Fine | Maximum Jail | Automatic disqualification | Minimum disqualification | |
| Prescribed illicit drug in oral fluid/blood/urine | $1,100 | Nil | 6 months | 3 months |
| Cocaine or Morphine in blood/urine: | $1,100 | Nil | 6 months | 3 months |
| DUI drug | $2,200 | 9 months | 12 months | 6 months |
| Refuse undergo oral fluid test | $3,300 | Nil | 3 years | 6 months |
| Refuse to supply blood sample | $3,300 | Nil | 3 years | 6 months |
| Alter amount of drug before oral fluid test | $3,300 | Nil | 3 years | 6 months |
| Driver involved in fatal accident fail to supply blood/urine sample: | $3,300 | 18 months | 3 years | 6 months |
| Fail on demand to provide sample of blood/urine, | $3,300 | 18 months | 3 years | 6 months |
2nd Drug Driving Offence within 5 Years
| Maximum Fine | Maximum Jail | Automatic disqualification | Minimum disqualification | |
| Prescribed illicit drug in oral fluid/blood/urine | $2,200 | Nil | 12 months | 6 months |
| Cocaine or Morphine in blood/urine: | $2,200 | Nil | 12 months | 6 months |
| DUI drug | $3,300 | 12 months | 3 years | 12 months |
| Refuse undergo oral fluid test | $5,500 | 18 months | 5 years | 12 months |
| Refuse to supply blood sample | $5,500 | 18 months | 5 years | 12 months |
| Alter amount of drug before oral fluid test | $5,500 | Nil | 5 years | 12 months |
| Driver involved in fatal accident fail to supply blood/urine sample: | $5,500 | 2 years | 5 years | 12 months |
| Fail on demand to provide sample of blood/urine, | $5,500 | 2 years | 5 years | 12 months |
Drug Driving Information in New South Wales
A variety of different types of drugs are strictly forbidden from being found in an individuals blood, saliva or urine, the main substances consist of:
- THC (Delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol) better known by the street name as marijuana, pot, weed or cannabis.
- METHYLAMPETAMINE better known by the street name as speed or ice.
- METHYLENEDIOXYMETHYLAMPHETAMINE better known by the street name as MDMA or ecstasy.
- MORPHINE.
- COCAINE.
NSW Cops are out there on our roads establishing random drug screening every day of the week, submitting oral fluid tests for drugs. Caution should be taken by drug users and/or experimenters since the existence of various kinds of drugs can often be found in a persons saliva, blood or urine numerous hours and in some cases days after consuming the drug. Cannabis is potentially one of the most widely utilized controlled substances yet it is among the longest enduring drugs which can be found present in ones body after lots of days if not weeks after usage. For this reason people need to understand the various compounds that they may take in might effectively exist in their system long after the effects of the drug has disappeared.
Note from the penalties table above that there are automatic and minimum disqualification durations that the Magistrate will likely by far must you be accused of any of those drug driving offences. Expect to receive the automatic disqualification period nevertheless if you have the ability to reveal the court that there are mitigating situations surrounding the charges then you might have the ability to convince the Magistrate into handing down a minimum disqualification duration or near to it.
A court has the discretion to dismiss the offences pursuant to Section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act in extremely uncommon situations.
If you have actually been charged with any one of the above pointed out drug driving charges then we highly recommend you to contact our workplace today to discuss you matter with an experienced and qualify traffic legal representative.