Legalise Cannabis has since burst into the upper houses of state parliaments,winning seats for two MPs in Western Australia in 2021,two in Victoria in 2022 and one in NSW this March. The Labor governments in both Victoria and NSW rely on the minor party to pass their agenda.
While Payne wouldn’t rule out blocking government bills if necessary,NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham confirmed he would not deny Labor his vote to force a deal.
Green,Liberal Democrats and Animal Justice MPs also support the legalisation.
Buckingham said prohibition had not stopped Australians using cannabis,with aPennington Institute report finding 37 per cent of people over 14 have used the drug at some point. More people support legalisation than not,a 2019 survey by theAustralian Institute of Health and Welfare found.
“The reality is,if you want to smoke cannabis,you can. Prohibition is not stopping anyone smoking weed,” Buckingham said.
While the initial bill would not allow for cannabis to be sold,he hopes to eventually cut out the black market to ensure a quality-controlled product while creating a new revenue stream through taxation.
“There’s a massive opportunity for governments to regulate,generate revenue,and make a commodity that millions of Australians are already using,safer.”
Taxpayers spend about $1.7 billion on cannabis-related law enforcement in Australia each year,the Pennington Institute said in December.
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NSW Premier Chris Minns has ruled out decriminalising the drug,despite telling party members in 2019 when he was shadow transport minister that it was “time for Labor to have a big debate that includes a commitment to legalising this drug”. He’s promisedanother drug summit,months after the former Liberal governmentrejected an ice inquiry recommendation to decriminalise drug use.
A two-year parliamentary inquiry in Victoria,spearheaded by influential former Reason Party MP Fiona Patten,in 2021 recommended the government “investigate the impacts of legalising cannabis for adult personal use”. It was set to recommend legalisation but waswatered down by Labor MPs.
The majority of evidence favoured decriminalisation for personal use,while Victoria Police argued such a change would exacerbate mental health problems and road trauma.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews,whose government was the first in Australia to legalise medicinal cannabis,has repeatedlyruled out the reform and said there was no safe way to use the drug recreationally.
SomeVictorian Liberals have publicly voiced their belief that low-level drug offences should be decriminalised. While the party is unlikely to adopt that as a formal position,Payne believed they could find common ground across the upper house.
“I think that we can have meaningful and productive conversations even with the most conservative politician,” Payne said.
She said police and court resources were wasted on low-level cannabis possession,and that prohibition harmed vulnerable people in particular.
This month,theNSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found 44 per cent of non-Aboriginal people caught with cannabis were let off with a caution,compared to just 12 per cent of Aboriginal people.
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West Australian Legalise Cannabis MP Brian Walker,a general practitioner,said alcohol was far more dangerous to the community than cannabis.
He wanted to offer “a real alternative to the failed and discredited war on drugs” in the Labor-controlled state.