We need to legalise weed

Chloe Reynolds
Boorloo/Perth
August 26, 2011
Issue 
893
Resistance!

There’s been much hoo-haa about cannabis possession lately in Western Australia, because now, if you are found with 10 or more grams of it,  you’re a criminal.

As of August 1, just 10 grams — rather than the 30-gram amount under the previous Labor government — can land you a maximum $2000 fine or two years’ jail. Heavy, right?

And to top it off, those caught will receive a nice little criminal record to go with it. Get caught with less than 10 grams and you are in for a mandatory counselling session.

The new penalties have sparked an outcry from responsible users across the state.

On the day the new marijuana legislation became law, a small group headed by David Gillett and Buckley Christopher held a peaceful speak out in Perth’s Solidarity Park, across from the state parliament house.

The organisers expected a heavy police presence to kick them off the parliament house steps, but the event remained calm and the speak out ended with a spirited rendition of a song inspired by John Lennon’s classic, Give Peace A Chance: “All we are saying, is give weed a chance.”

About 30 people from a variety of backgrounds attended the colourful and defiant event.

The police minister Rob Johnson was invited to speak but did not attend.
 
What is interesting is the stigma that is created by criminalising marijuana and its users.

They are not your usual criminal. They tend not to harm others, generally don’t instigate violence and a lot of users carry on a very normal, productive life.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media constantly blather on about all the worst case scenarios in a bid to frighten us into acceptance of the laws, instead of providing the community with unbiased information so people can make up their own minds.


 
In February in New York, a panel of the Global Commission on Drug Policy — which included former heads of state, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker — conceded the “global war on drugs” had failed.

The commission’s new report said the criminalisation of drugs like marijuana harms society.

Sir Keith Morris, who is on the advisory board of the International Council on Security and Development in the US said the US government “should look at the huge costs of incarcerating large numbers of people, [and] the damage it’s done”, msnbc.com reported.

The Western Australian government and police could get clever here and explore the idea of legalising, taxing and regulating the supply of marijuana.

Rather than focusing on a relatively peaceful few, how about they point their attention to the clandestine drug labs that are popping up around suburbia like toadstools.

Imagine the revenue that could be raised from decriminalising and regulating the sale of weed.

The profits from the tax could even go back into the community instead of the dealer. How about that idea?

Australia

Comments

Anonymous replied on

I am sorry, but if it is legalized then all the growers are going to go out of business. Many livelihoods depend on the black market trade of Marijuana. Home growers will not be able to compete with huge marijuana growing businesses.

Anonymous replied on

much like wine i think small-scale boutique weed farmers will always have their place :P

Anonymous replied on

I'd love to see weed legalised. Firstly because it would then represent one less opportunity for state control/harassment/fitting-up. But secondly because maybe if it were legal, pro-legalisation campaigners would have to stop presenting this fairly nasty, potentially damaging drug as some kind of harmless pastime which acquires a patina of glamour by being criminalised. Because it's criminalised, legalisation campaigners have long got away with presenting arguments about the harmfulness of weed (and yes, I know they're probably no more than those of alcohol etc) as part of a government-led, pro-criminalisation conspiracy. Maybe decriminalisation would allow some genuine open debate about the psychological and psychiatric effects of cannabis.

Anonymous replied on

...unless you're pregnant or have an underlying medical condition. Marijuana is non-toxic unless combusted and with the developent of vaporizers--nearly all of the toxins are effectively removed, while allowing more of the cancer fighting cannabinoids to be absorbed. Cannabis down regulates "gene ID-1" which in turn, significantly reduces brain, breast and lung cancer cells from metastasizing. No, it's not a cure for Cancer, but when society learns all the potential benifits of intelligently used Canabis vs. the toxic death toll from alcohol consumption-their respictive laws will be reversed. The time to let go of alcohol and go green has come.

Anonymous replied on

I'll drink to that!

Anonymous replied on

Well it grows like a weed, pardon the pun, so I don't think that's gonna be a big issue... empty your leftover seeds and bong water onto the garden bed and ...yippee!

Anonymous replied on

When you've seen and dealt with the long term effects of sustained cannabis use resulting in mental dissorders then you may pretend to support it's use for medicinal purposes, until then continue you're pathetic criminal behaviour falsly implying Cannabis has no detremental effects just so you may feel like a law abiding citizen.

Anonymous replied on

This commentator is at least suffering from spelling and syntax disorders, I can barely make sense of this!

Anonymous replied on

Its true, they're having to result in using the old propaganda scare tactics just to win votes so they get re-elected again. This is the same through all of Australia. They all know that Cannabis has many beneficial medical properties yet they don't speak anything about it and whenever the election comes, all they blab on about is "we need to get tough on drug laws" blah blah, "Cannabis is harmful, we should raise the penalty for possession". This is outrageous and riticules the state governments in America which 16 of the states have legalised Medicinal Cannabis. Rather than seeing cannabis getting out of control, theres actually more benefit towards it. The government gets revenue from taxing it, it creates more jobs, what else more do you want? The drug prohibition has failed for more than 40 years and is getting worse each and every year, time to wake up to the truth and try something that would actually work! Legalise, Regulate, Medicate!

Anonymous replied on

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 3:28am. " then you may pretend to support its use for medicinal purposes, until then continue you're pathetic criminal behaviour falsly implying Cannabis has no detremental effects just so you may feel like a law abiding citizen". I understand the position you are in when you’re either nursing or treating patients with psychological disorders, you are treating the long term end result of chemical or societal influences on the young mind over a progressive time but seem to fail to understand the accumulative effects of compounds, and just blame one. Your statement "When you've seen and dealt with the long term effects of sustained cannabis use resulting in mental disorders" where is your proof that Cannabis was the sole cause? these people you are treating have a cocktail of drugs accumilated in their systems from inoculations for small pox and whooping cough when babies to coffee and cough syrup, pannadol, the accumulation of manmade environmental toxins, the list as you well know is endless. Unless you have a clean sole with NO chemical or environmental influences you cannot test any compound for its ability to cause Psychosis. Now in the real world you have to use case samples and report your findings to the authorities and therefore have great influence on political decisions based on your reports. Ok, recent studies done in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and USA shows 30 to 40 yr ago percentage of population with Schizophrenia 1.1 to 1.2% Percentage of population using Cannabis approximately 11% Current percentage of population with Schizophrenia 1.1 to 1.2% Percentage of population using Cannabis approximately 14% to 16% Showing a 30% plus increase in Cannabis use but no increase in Schizophrenia. Their findings also reviled the single most cause of any psychosis to the population is living in cities and suburbia and that most people who get Psychosis has a predisposition to having the psychosis develop in later life irrelevant of drugs used and that these people will develop some form of Psychosis later in life. I would like you to concider the stress and paranoia people who use Cannabis suffer everyday due the the fact it is illegal and how this may effect your results and findings? All results from testing Cannabis for addictiveness can only show some people can develop a psychological dependency on Cannabis but when the subjects do not take the drug, they return quickly to normal from the effects of THC, have no side effects, don’t feel the need to prostitute themselves or steal to get their fix and have none of the normal withdrawals effects seen from other drugs and you cannot OD from Cannabis. I won’t start on the Cancer fighting and Dementia memory loss suppressant etc of Cannabis that will takes a book. I will direct you to all the answers you need to re-educate yourself on Cannabis and you may, as many others in the medical profession, change your mind and see Cannabis for what it really is. I present to you, the works of a Storm Crow: An indexed collection of cannabis related studies https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/26942-grannys-mmj-list-january-2011/ Martin Stone (not Anonymous)

Anonymous replied on

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 3:28am. " then you may pretend to support its use for medicinal purposes, until then continue you're pathetic criminal behaviour falsly implying Cannabis has no detremental effects just so you may feel like a law abiding citizen". I understand the position you are in when you’re either nursing or treating patients with psychological disorders, you are treating the long term end result of chemical or societal influences on the young mind over a progressive time but seem to fail to understand the accumulative effects of compounds, and just blame one. Your statement "When you've seen and dealt with the long term effects of sustained cannabis use resulting in mental disorders" where is your proof that Cannabis was the sole cause? these people you are treating have a cocktail of drugs accumilated in their systems from inoculations for small pox and whooping cough when babies to coffee and cough syrup, pannadol, the accumulation of manmade environmental toxins, the list as you well know is endless. Unless you have a clean sole with NO chemical or environmental influences you cannot test any compound for its ability to cause Psychosis. Now in the real world you have to use case samples and report your findings to the authorities and therefore have great influence on political decisions based on your reports. Ok, recent studies done in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and USA shows 30 to 40 yr ago percentage of population with Schizophrenia 1.1 to 1.2% Percentage of population using Cannabis approximately 11% Current percentage of population with Schizophrenia 1.1 to 1.2% Percentage of population using Cannabis approximately 14% to 16% Showing a 30% plus increase in Cannabis use but no increase in Schizophrenia. Their findings also reviled the single most cause of any psychosis to the population is living in cities and suburbia and that most people who get Psychosis has a predisposition to having the psychosis develop in later life irrelevant of drugs used and that these people will develop some form of Psychosis later in life. I will also like you to consider the stress and paranoia that Cannabis users suffer everyday due to cannabis being illegal and how this accumulative stress will affect your results and findings? All results from testing Cannabis for addictiveness can only show some people can develop a psychological dependency on Cannabis but when the subjects do not take the drug, they return quickly to normal from the effects of THC, have no side effects, don’t feel the need to prostitute themselves or steal to get their fix and have none of the normal withdrawals effects seen from other drugs and you cannot OD from Cannabis. I won’t start on the Cancer fighting and Dementia memory loss suppressant etc of Cannabis that will takes a book. I will direct you to all the answers you need to re-educate yourself on Cannabis and you may, as many others in the medical profession, change your mind and see Cannabis for what it really is. I present to you, the works of a Storm Crow: An indexed collection of cannabis related studies https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/26942-grannys-mmj-list-january-2011/ Martin Stone (not Anonymous)

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