The contradiction around medicinal cannabis and roadside drug testing has existed for years and most people inside this movement understand it well. Patients can legally obtain medicinal cannabis through a doctor, follow every rule placed in front of them, and still risk losing their licence because roadside testing measures presence rather than impairment.

What matters now is that political movement finally appears to be happening and Jeremy Buckingham has been one of the few voices inside the Parliament consistently forcing the issue into public debate. Too often, frustration from within the cannabis community gets directed at Jeremy, as if he is somehow the person standing in the way of reform. As though he is the Government itself.

Jeremy is not the Premier, the Roads Minister nor in the ruling Party. He is a crossbench MP doing the difficult work of dragging these conversations into a political system that has historically preferred hesitation, caution and stigma over reform. That work is now beginning to show signs of progress, as in March this year, Chris Minns publicly indicated that the NSW Government was investigating changes to roadside drug testing laws.

Then, in early May, Jeremy moved Motion 3134. On 14 May, Alex Greenwich informed the Parliament that he and Jeremy no longer needed to proceed with their proposed legislation because a forthcoming Government policy announcement would be informed by their work. That is politically significant. It suggests the pressure is working.

Jeremy Buckingham deserves genuine recognition for helping push this issue to the point where the NSW Government can no longer avoid it. While other politicians continue reaching for tired stereotypes about “druggies” and moral panic, Jeremy has approached the issue with persistence and political maturity.

However, at the same time, this moment exposes a larger truth about the movement itself. We are not the Legalise Medical Cannabis Party. The legality of medical cannabis should have been properly resolved years ago. Instead, patients were handed a strange legal paradox where the medicine became lawful, but the surrounding laws remained, shaped by prohibition.

In many ways, the system itself became a deliberate roadblock, forcing the movement to spend years defending an already legal medicine instead of moving toward recreational legalisation. Which is why some people inside the movement talk about “disappearing the law”. Laws born from prohibition rarely loosen their grip cleanly. Even when reform arrives, the system still tries to keep a portion of control. It changes the language while preserving the instinct underneath.

Cannabis use in Australia is already widespread across every part of society. Regional communities. Tradies. Professionals. Parents. Veterans. Young people. Older Australians. The numbers already exist for cannabis users to become a genuinely powerful political force.

People must know, a vote for the Legalise Cannabis Party does not prevent them from supporting other parties through preferences. If enough ordinary cannabis consumers simply voted 1 for Legalise Cannabis first, then followed their usual political preferences thereafter, the movement would hold enough parliamentary weight to force serious reform much faster than it currently does. So, let’s get it done!

Again however, we should acknowledge the progress being made and recognise the people doing the political work already, inside Parliament. The responsibility belongs to us too. Conversations with friends, family, workmates and neighbours. Calls to talkback radio. Letters to editors. Contacting local MPs.

As cannabis use in Australia is already normal, increasingly it is the law itself that feels disconnected from reality—laws that drift too far from reality eventually disappear.