New drug driving laws in QLD from 1 December 2026

The new drug driving laws in QLD start on 1 December 2026, and unlike the drink driving side of the same Act, the change here is real and it goes in one direction, with the maximum penalty for driving with a relevant drug present doubling.

There is also a new offence for drivers who have alcohol over the limit and a drug in their system at the same time, and for that one a work licence is not available at all.

This article sets out what changes and what stays the same, including the part that catches people who drive for a living.

What the new drug driving laws in QLD change

There are four changes. The maximum penalty for driving with a relevant drug present doubles. Minimum court imposed fines are introduced. A new combined drink and drug offence is created, with no work licence available for it. And the shortest disqualification a court can impose for a first drug driving offence gets longer.

None of that changes which drugs are tested for or how the test works at the roadside.

What the doubled maximum means

The ceiling for the fine on a driving with a relevant drug present charge is going to twice what it is now. The maximum term of imprisonment for that offence is not changing.

A maximum is the ceiling for the worst version of an offence, not the ordinary outcome. What a doubled maximum does is lift the top of the range the court is working inside. What a court does in any particular matter still depends on the facts and the history in front of it.

It is a real change and worth knowing about, but it is not a reason to assume a particular outcome in your own matter, and nobody can tell you what a court will do before reading your material.

Minimum court imposed fines

From 1 December, where a court deals with a drug driving matter by way of a fine, the fine has to be at least a set minimum for that offence.

That floor only operates where the penalty is a fine. If the court imposes something else, the minimum does not come into it. Where several offences are dealt with at once, the total has to reach the highest of the minimums in play. And where someone was convicted of something in the short period before sentencing, the court can go below the minimum where that would be just.

The same mechanism applies on the alcohol side, and we go through it in more detail in our piece on the new drink driving laws.

The new combined drink and drug offence

If you drive for work, read this part carefully. From 1 December, having a relevant drug present and being over an alcohol limit at the same time becomes a single offence of its own rather than two charges running side by side. Where the evidence shows both, the court has to convict of the combined offence.

Two things follow from that, and both are worse than the two separate charges would have been. The combined offence carries extra disqualification on top of what the equivalent alcohol only offence would have attracted.

A work licence also cannot be granted for it at all, however strong the grounds or the affidavits. If you have been reading about work licence and hardship applications on the basis that a drug driving charge usually leaves that door open, the combined offence is the exception that shuts it.

That makes the exact wording on your paperwork more important than it has ever been. A charge that reads as drug presence alone and a charge that reads as drug presence with alcohol are different animals from 1 December.

Disqualification for a first drug driving offence

The range is changing at the bottom end. At the moment an open licence holder convicted of a first driving with a relevant drug present offence faces a disqualification starting from a relatively short period. From 1 December the shortest period the court can impose goes up.

The top of the range is not moving. The change is to the floor, so it bears on anyone who would otherwise have been dealt with at the lighter end of the range.

If you were charged before 1 December

If you were charged before 1 December and your matter has not been dealt with yet, do not try to work out which version of the law applies to you from an article.

The dates in a matter can matter. When the driving happened, when you were charged, and when the court deals with you are three separate dates, and how they interact is a specific question about your own file. That is exactly the sort of thing to put to someone before your court date.

The most useful preparation is to know your three dates and bring your paperwork.

Changes that are coming but have no start date

Two further drug driving measures are in the same Act but do not commence on 1 December. They start on a day to be fixed later, and as at the date of this article no date has been set.

One is a change to how roadside drug testing is carried out. The other is a drug driver education program.

Neither is in force or has a date, so if you see either described as a 1 December change, that is not right.

What is not changing

The roadside test looks for the same four drugs. Our piece on roadside drug testing covers the test itself and what a positive result does and does not prove.

The presence offence stays as it is. Driving with a relevant drug present is still about whether the substance was there, not whether it affected your driving. That remains separate from the more serious charge of driving under the influence of a drug, which is a different offence with different consequences, including no work licence. Our page on drug driving sets out how the two run.

For medicinal cannabis, Queensland's zero tolerance position for THC applies whether or not you hold a prescription, and these changes do not alter it.

The 24 hour suspension also stays, so a positive roadside test still suspends your licence for 24 hours on the spot.

Common questions

Are drug driving penalties doubling in Queensland?

The maximum fine for driving with a relevant drug present is doubling. The maximum term of imprisonment for that offence is not. A maximum is the top of the range rather than the usual outcome, so a doubled ceiling does not mean a doubled result in any particular matter.

Does this change which drugs are tested for?

No. The roadside saliva test looks for the same substances it does now, and the changes do not touch the testing regime that is currently in force.

Does a prescription protect me?

No. A lawful prescription does not take you outside the presence offence for THC, and that position is unchanged by these amendments.

What happens if I refuse a test?

There are two different refusals and they are not the same offence. Refusing the screening test at the roadside is one offence. Failing to provide a specimen for analysis after a police officer has required it is a separate and more serious one, and it is treated as the same offence as driving under the influence, which brings licence disqualification with it. If refusal is part of your matter, find out which one is on your paperwork before you assume anything.

Can I still get a work licence for a drug driving charge?

For driving with a relevant drug present, a work licence remains possible where you meet the eligibility rules. For driving under the influence of a drug it is not available, and from 1 December it is not available for the new combined drink and drug offence either.

What to do if you have a court date coming up

Read your charge wording properly. The difference between drug presence, drug presence with alcohol, and driving under the influence decides what options you have, and from 1 December that is more true than it was.

Get your traffic history, because the five year look back matters here.

If your licence is how you earn money, say so early. A work licence application is built before the court date, not on it, and for some charges it is not available at all.

This article is current as at September 2026 and describes changes commencing on 1 December 2026. The law in this area is moving, so check the current Queensland Government position for your own situation.

If you have been charged in Cairns

The 1 December changes do not alter what the court is told about your circumstances, or how early that material is prepared. What they do change is the ceiling, the floor, and whether a work licence is open to you at all.

We act in drug driving and traffic matters in Cairns and across Far North Queensland. If you have been charged and you are not sure how these changes touch your matter, we can go through it with you.

If you have been charged with drug driving in Cairns and your court date falls near 1 December, speak with us before you go.