Marijuana Media: You beauties! Aussie Legalise Cannabis Party (‘Our name says it all’) introduces Bills in WA, Victoria and NSW

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Legalise Cannabis Party introduces Bills in West Australia, Victoria and New South Wales

Huge news for Australasian cannabis law reform, with the resurgent Legalise Cannabis Party, which now holds seats in the Upper Houses of three states, introducing simultaneous bills to legalise personal use and possession. Titled “Regulation of Personal Adult Use of Cannabis Bill 2023”, if passed adults would be legally able to possess up to 50 grams for personal use, grow up to six plants, and gift cannabis to another adult.

After tabling the Bill on Tuesday, Dr Brian Walker MLC (Member of Parliament for the Legalise Cannabis Party in Western Australia) posted: “In an Australian first, the Legalise Cannabis Party introduced legislation into the Victorian, NSW and WA Parliaments today, aimed at allowing home growth, personal possession, and the ability to gift cannabis between individuals.”

1News led the local coverage (Bills to legalise cannabis introduced in three Aussie states), saying the push from the Legalise Cannabis Party “is modelled off measures in the Australian Capital Territory that are already in place.”

Adults would be allowed to grow a maximum of six cannabis plants for personal use and gift the drug to another adult.

Those under the age of 18 wouldn’t be allowed to access the drug and driving while impaired would still be illegal.

Rachel Payne, Legalise Cannabis Victoria MP said: “This Bill actions sensible and meaningful reform to end the criminalisation of people who consume cannabis. It’s time our governments reformed outdated laws, in line with community expectations.”

The Legalise Cannabis party said the bill would reduce the black market, which police estimate generates $8 billion in crime profits annually.

The Premier of New South Wales has previously argued for legalisation, however in April this year said he doesn’t currently have a “mandate”.

A huge amount of coverage in Oz. On SBS, “The Legalise Cannabis Party says it’s made history by simultaneously introducing bills in three states – Victoria, NSW and Western Australia – to allow the use and possession of small quantities of the drug.”

Australian Associated Press reported “A spokeswoman for Legalise Cannabis Victoria MP Rachel Payne told AAP the party was formulating a three-stage plan, the second step of which would include extending rights for consumers with the development of “co-operatives” and expunging historical personal use convictions.”

Western Australian Legalise Cannabis Party upper house member Brian Walker told ABC News the party would look to create a regulated market for cannabis products down the track. [watch video]

News.com.au quoted Legalise Cannabis Party NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham, a former Greens MP, saying it was the nation’s first “co-ordinated approach to legalise cannabis”.

Under the banner ‘Our name says it all’, Melbourne’s The Age said Legalise Cannabis is in a “joint offensive” but warned “The bills, to be introduced in the upper houses, are doomed to fail without the support of major parties that have been reluctant to soften drug policing. Victorian MP Rachel Payne wouldn’t rule out blocking government bills to get the necessary support, but said she preferred to work cooperatively.”

On that topic, Sky News reported “Legalise Cannabis MPs say they haven’t ruled out blocking key government bills to gain support for their proposed legislation.”

In NSW, Legalise Cannabis MPs have also tabled bills to legalise and decriminalise cannabis, deregulate the hemp industry, legalise pill testing, and exempt medical cannabis users from offences of driving with the presence of drugs.

Legalise Cannabis MPs point to the 700,000 cannabis arrests since 2010, 90 per cent of which were for minor possession or consumption charges, and a new report from the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research showing First Nations people are almost four times more likely to be charged for cannabis possession compared to non-Indigenous people.

And in Melbourne, Victoria, police officers violated human rights through excessive force and unlawful arrests at a pro cannabis rally, lawyers claim in an open letter to the state’s chief commissioner Shane Patton. Fitzroy legal service alleges attendees were humiliated after being inappropriately searched, illegally handcuffed and mocked at a demonstration for the legalisation of marijuana on April 20. Victoria Police officers behaved aggressively and disrespectfully towards 420-rally attendees, including those with medicinal cannabis prescriptions, and unlawfully detained the group, the letter says. Fitzroy legal service has called on Victoria police to implement a strategy to prevent excessive operations at future rallies. In a statement to AAP, Victoria police said it was reviewing the claims.

Roll up

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party joins judicial review of the distribution of broadcasting funding allocation, led by controversial lawyer Sue Grey in the Wellington High Court, claiming it has not been done fairly. The ALCP is not affiliated to the other parties (Outdoors and Freedom, Freedoms NZ, Vision NZ), but according to the Herald, agrees with the court challenge so has joined in. Each party has been allocated just $66,332 for broadcast advertising, which lawyer Sue Grey said would buy them just two ads during the evening news. Party leader Michael Appleby, a former Barrister, human rights lawyer and law lecturer, said “Ending prohibition of cannabis is the most important social injustice needing to be fixed in this country.” Justice Ellis has reserved her decision.

Wellington City Council’s data breach includes details of drivers such as drugs found in their system, which may have nothing to do with the incident they were involved with but are now leaked on the net. Council staff failed to scrub a spreadsheet of personal identifiable information. This in the Herald:

In many cases, the names of the drivers, car registration numbers, and driver’s licence numbers were released. Sometimes statements from drivers with their accounts of the crashes were provided as well as medical details like hospitalisations, blood alcohol levels, and whether they were under the influence of drugs.

In royal news, the right-wing Heritage Foundation, who last featured on March 23’s Marijuana Media, have continued their push to have Prince Harry’s US visa application released publicly, on the basis his revelations of previous drug use should disbar him from residency. The Heritage Foundation is a conservative lobby group founded by Coors brewers in the Reagan era and now better known as a pro-Trump “pipeline of hate”. According to NZ City, the US government has blocked the release.

Ending on some good news, MPs in Luxembourg will vote by the end of June on a proposal to legalise home cultivation of cannabis. Adults would be allowed to cultivate up to four plants in a place that is “invisible from public space”.

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