Is Australia ready to legalise cannabis?
Public perception on a wide range of topics has shifted dramatically in the last decade. Now the world’s most widely used illicit drug is in the spotlight, as pressure mounts to legalise cannabis.
The Greens Party are pushing for cannabis to be legalised in Victoria by 2024, in a move that would regulate the recreational usage of the drug.
This comes as a survey by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found 41% of Australians supported the legalisation of cannabis for personal use.
In 2020 the ACT became the first Australian state to allow citizens to be in possession of up to 50 grams of cannabis and grow it in their home.
What is going on with legalising cannabis in Australia?
Associate Professor, Nicole Lee, of the National Drug Research Institute said the ACT can be used as a guide for the regulating of cannabis laws in Victoria.
“We know from the ACT example that people are moved away from the criminal justice system, and there becomes less of a stigma around drug use.”
“The laws are currently applied unfairly, they are heavily skewed against people who are Indigenous and people from low-socioeconomic areas. It is an unfair application of an unfair law.”
“It would remove that requirement of the police to make decisions about who needs to go to treatment or prison,” she said.
In 2018 and 2019, 71,151 people were arrested for cannabis offences across the country, according to a report by the National Drug and Alcohol Knowledgebase.
Professor Lee said whilst there is a small risk of addiction, “only a few people become dependent” and the benefits for medicinal cannabis users outweighed this factor.
“Ever since the medicinal cannabis laws came into Australia, it became quite difficult for people to take it up. There is quite a lot of red tape, and not a lot of practitioners can prescribe it."
“We need to be able to make medicinal cannabis more available under the right conditions. We do not want people to be self-medicating with recreational cannabis, when they really need to be under the supervision of a medical doctor. They need the correct dosage and symptoms measured,” she said.
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
The number of medicinal cannabis users grew from 57,710 in 2020 to 122,490 in 2021, according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
In 2019, 55% of medicinal cannabis users got their cannabis from a friend, and 22% received it from a dealer.
Greens candidate for Western Metro Victoria, Bernadette Thomas said it is these reasons of decriminalisation and public health that is encouraging The Greens to promote these laws in parliament.
“Drugs are illegal now, but people are still using them. Having a regulated system brings certainty. The fact that we’ve had a prohibition and law and order approach for the best part of 50 or 60 years, and people are still using them tells us our way of thinking is wrong.”
“Therefore we and the federal Greens are looking to pressure state governments country wide into action,” she said.
Ms Thomas said a tax on cannabis of around 30% would be used as a source of economic boost. This would be similar to the alcohol tax currently imposed on the country.
When asked about the viability of the bill being passed, Ms Thomas said that “allies” of recreational cannabis were in the Victorian parliament, and those that were not would be the target of “open conversation” and “hard work” from the party.
Whilst Ms Thomas spoke of widespread recreational use, Professor Lee disagreed that we would see a similar model to the United States of “commercialised cannabis”.
“There would be a lot of regulation around being able to use it. It would not just be able to be sold in every shop. We are probably not going to be going down the route of the U.S,” she said.
What does the public think?
To find out more: Listen here
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