A Flawed Reefer-endum

The government has released its proposed law for legalising cannabis for recreational use (i.e. the right to get high). Voters will be asked: “Do you support the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill?”

We would probably make the question “Do you support Cannabis Legalisation and Normalisation?”

PROBLEMS

It will be legal to grow cannabis for personal use

The problem with private homes being used as ‘grows’ is that dope dealers will simply stay under the radar with multi-location grows, and children will be exposed to the industry – right in their backyard. They also want to allow “social sharing”. Yeah – let’s get the whole neighbourhood high!

14 grams can be carried – or purchased each 24 hours (not sure how they police that?) – that’s anywhere from 20 – 40 joints, every day!!

Any person will be allowed to grow two plants for personal use, to a limit of four per household. (Non-expert growers might expect to yield, at most, about 140 grams of cannabis flower per plant.) These limits will be hard to police.

Home grows are simply a form of black market. They avoid any regulation. Who is going to monitor what a local drug dealer is growing in their backyards?

SmokeFree – but a joint or edible in the home is fine

Imagine what example this sets to young people and children about drug use. And of course, as mentioned above, the whole neighbourhood can join in the party.

‘Gummy bear heaven’ – all the products that Big Marijuana wants

Unlike Canada, edibles will be immediately legal (and many of these products are targeted at young people – irrespective of whether it’s legal for them or not). And every other jurisdiction has been engulfed – either through the legal market (Colorado, California), or through the black market (Uruguay, Canada) – with edibles. The market share of bud has fallen and the market share of THC-infused edibles and THC concentrates continues to rise.

The police will be just as busy – if not busier

A regulatory authority will be created to manage the licensing system, and it will be expected to work with any law enforcement agencies. That means checking every home grow, every user for their age, testing all potencies, licensed premises, management of associated waste products, offences and penalties for non-compliance – the list goes on.

This is a proposed bill which could be changed by an incoming government

Voters really don’t or won’t know the ultimate outcome of what legalisation will look like. After the election, the incoming Government will need to follow a process to introduce a Bill to Parliament that would make recreational use of cannabis legal. This process would include the opportunity for the public to share their thoughts and ideas on how the law might work.

Drug dealers will be able to become drug dealers

Having a criminal conviction will not prevent a person from having a licence to sell cannabis.

The ‘black market’ will be celebrating.

* limitations on the potency of cannabis – including dabs (wax)
* age limits (didn’t hear the Greens wanting the voting age to be lifted to 20?)
* limited availability of product
* an increasing market for vaping (which has no mention in the legislation – despite its prevalence and health concerns in the US!)

8. Pot shop by your local school or kindy?

There appears to be no restrictions on the location of pot shops.

Police concerns…

One of the proposed benefits is to free up police resources but that is not actually the case. And If it was be to more closely monitored, that would put more demand on police.
Tax and pricing could be a problem. If you can’t drive that price down, that is not going to get rid of the black market.
There were some concerns from members about breaching the legal grow limits, which would be hard to police.
There was also some confusion around the purchase limits of 14g a day. Unless you have a database, how are you ever going to police that.
Members were also concerned that a law would support the idea that it was ok to use cannabis and that it was not harmful