PATIENT SUPPORT
Driving and your prescription
You can hold a prescription and hold a licence. What matters is that you are never impaired at the wheel, and that you can show your medicine was prescribed to you.
THE STARTING POINT
Impairment is the offence
It is a criminal offence to drive while impaired by any drug or medicine, prescribed or not. That rule has nothing to do with cannabis specifically. It applies to strong painkillers, some sleeping tablets and some antihistamines in exactly the same way.
Separately, road traffic law in England and Wales sets specified blood limits for a number of drugs, including THC. Being over a specified limit can be an offence in its own right, whether or not your driving was affected on the day.
THE MEDICAL DEFENCE
Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988
Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 provides a statutory medical defence. In broad terms, it applies where the medicine was lawfully prescribed or supplied to you, you took it in accordance with the directions of the prescriber or the patient information leaflet, and your possession of it was lawful.
In practice that means the defence protects a patient who is taking a prescribed medicine properly. It does not protect anyone who is actually impaired. If your driving is affected, the fact that the medicine was prescribed will not help you, and you should not be driving at all.
The defence also depends on evidence. If you are stopped, being able to show that the medication is yours, prescribed to you, and being taken as directed is what makes the conversation straightforward.
General information, not legal advice
This page is general information, not legal advice. If you are unsure, do not drive and speak to your clinician.
IN PRACTICE
What to do every time you drive
Practical steps
Keep your medication in its original pharmacy labelled packaging, and keep evidence of your prescription with you when you drive.
Never drive if you feel drowsy, slowed, light headed or in any way not yourself.
Take extra care in the first weeks of treatment, and again whenever your dose or format changes. Do not drive until you know how it affects you.
Follow the directions from your prescriber and the patient information leaflet exactly. The medical defence depends on it.
Leave a sensible gap between taking your medication and driving, as advised by your clinician.
Do not combine your medication with alcohol and then drive.
Tell your insurer about your prescribed medication if your policy requires it.
If you are stopped, stay calm, explain that you take a prescribed medicine and show your documentation.
All treatment is subject to clinical assessment and eligibility.
THE ONE RULE
If in doubt, do not drive
No appointment, journey or errand is worth the risk to you or anyone else. Your clinician would far rather have a conversation about timing and dose than hear that you drove when you were not sure.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Questions like this should have clear answers.
Ask your clinician, or start with the free eligibility check. All treatment is subject to clinical assessment and eligibility.
Check your eligibility