By Maurice Sibelle
BRISBANE — Cannabis users are disappointed that Queensland's Criminal Justice Commission recommended only minor changes to laws relating to cannabis use. The CJC's report released on July 13, called for a crub on police powers and softer penalties for first-time cannabis users, but stopped short of calling for its legalisation.
Queensland has the most draconian anti-cannabis laws in Australia. Police currently have the power to conduct body searches, seize vehicles and search premises without a warrant. Users face up to 15 years jail for possession; it is an offence to possess pipes or bongs used to smoke cannabis.
The CJC report recommended that police not be allowed to search for less than 100 grams of cannabis or ten or fewer plants. The CJC rejected the legalisation or decriminalisation of cannabis use, in which offenders would be issued with a small fine as is the case in SA and the ACT.
The report said that the law should be changed to give magistrates the option of not applying criminal convictions to first-time or infrequent cannabis users. The report found that magistrates were already handing down lenient sentences and that the laws should be reformed to reflect this. It found no evidence that cannabis was more or less of a health hazard than legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco.
Premier Wayne Goss praised the report as well-researched and sensible. Peter Beatie, Labor MLA for Central, and a supposed supporter of reform, expressed satisfaction with the report. However, the report was condemned by the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties which called on the government to legalise cannabis.
Tony Kneipp, spokesperson for Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP), said he was very disappointed with the report. "Clearly it has given us nothing we haven't got already. The report recommends that the law be brought into line with current practices of magistrates. Even the magistrates cannot go along with the draconian provisions of the drug laws. Under current laws is not uncommon for people to get six months' jail for possession and two years' jail for cultivation, especially if it is not their first offence," he said.
"We are going to have to hurt the Labor Party electorally. Goss doesn't think this will matter electorally. We can't allow the matter to rest. I think the best way to put pressure on the Labor Party is to run independent HEMP candidates and to support other candidates, whether they be Democrats, Greens or Democratic Socialist Party, if they have a policy of decriminalisation."
HEMP has organised two demonstrations and a number of pickets and Kneipp said that HEMP will continue with mass mobilisations and look at organised civil disobedience.