Tested Positive at a Roadside Drug Test in South Australia? What Happens Next
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First: breathe. Here's the South Australian sequence.
SA tests for THC, methylamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA at the roadside, and — unlike drink driving's concentration thresholds — the presence of any amount is an offence, prescription or not. A parliamentary committee has recommended change; nothing has passed. Here's what happens now, step by step.
1. The roadside process. A positive screening test leads to confirmation testing, and you'll be unable to drive for a period while the process runs. Refusing or failing to comply with testing is its own offence — official SA guidance flags possible immediate loss of licence at the roadside and disqualification of at least 12 months on conviction for refusal.
2. Laboratory confirmation. The sample goes to a lab; the roadside result is indicative only. The formal outcome follows the lab result, which takes time.
3. Expiation notice or prosecution. For a first presence offence you may receive an expiation notice (SA's version of an on-the-spot fine) rather than a summons. Paying an expiation is not automatically the cheap way out — licence consequences still attach, and electing to be prosecuted instead puts the matter before a court, which cuts both ways.
4. Court, if it goes there. Conviction can mean disqualification, a fine and a record. Non-conviction outcomes and hardship arguments are precisely where representation earns its cost.
What to do this week
- Don't pay the expiation reflexively. Get advice first — payment usually ends your options, and the election window has a deadline. Put the deadline in your phone now.
- Write down everything: stop time, what was said, last dose, product and prescription details.
- Gather documents: prescription, dispensing records, prescriber guidance.
- Tell your prescriber what happened and review product/timing options.
What NOT to do
- Don't rely on the committee recommendation — a recommendation to amend the Road Traffic Act is not an amendment. Current law applies in full.
- Don't assume "not impaired" is a defence in SA. It isn't, for the presence offence.
- Don't miss the expiation election deadline while deciding what to do.
- Don't post details publicly while the matter is live.
The reform picture
The SA parliamentary committee recommended that lawfully prescribed, unimpaired patients should not commit an offence — squarely the Tasmanian model. The government's response is the thing to watch, and our Reform Tracker and fortnightly email will carry it the moment it lands.