Petition Gillard: Re-legalise & regulate Cannabis for personal, medical, industry
- Thread starter acidprime
- Start date
Juvenile
Bluelighter
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- Sep 21, 2003
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The petition is nice and all. I wouldn't expect any thing to come of it though. I think petitions are less effective than sending a letter to your MP. Look at the way the Christian wack jobs effect politics, they email out a template letter for all their members to add to and mail to their MP. Would be great if the pro drug law reform network could do that somehow.
spacejunk
Bluelight Crew
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- May 21, 2011
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- 19,976
the whole 'illegality' thing really scares people out of being vocal about drug law reform.
we've been trained to understand that drugs = the boys in blue kicking your door down and hauling you away. The Fear is instilled in all of us, no matter what our opinion may be regarding prohibition.
there are people willing to fight a lot of different causes in australia; be it your fundamentalist christians or your hardcore forest activists risking their lives to stand up for something they believe in.
but when it comes to "drugs" the stigma is so great, the propaganda so overwhelming and the threat of legal issues or being targeted/singled-out means less folks are prepared to stick their neck out.
we've become accustomed to letting the state violate our privacy, use violence and imprisonment to deter drug use - to protect us from the terrible harms of "reefer madness" or whatever - that to many, the idea of legalising cannabis is unthinkable. people are that well-trained by the media, that most politicians who would happily put a stop to this insane 'war' are too afraid to be labelled "soft on drugs" or whatever.
i'm sorry to be so negative, because i'm all for such a legislative shift - but can you imagine the howls of invective that would spew forth from tony abbott and his cronies if the gillard govt were to legalise cannabis - even for medical use?
it's an embarrassment, but this country isn't a leader in progressive thought. i just don't think the political discourse is mature enough to cope with such an idea - we're still so isolated in many ways, no matter how small the world seems now.
beer, tv and consumption are the drugs of choice for most aussies.
oh, and a few bongs now and then...but the public are so used to being manipulated by the people that supposedly represent us - or taking the tabloid shock-jock shit-stirring media at face value - that it is hard to see huge social change occurring here without some sort of catalyst to shock people out of their complacency.
the US has high unemployment and economic woes to contend with, opening up all kinds of options.
australia has the resources industry; some of the most outspoken and active anti-drugs campaigners in this country are the mining companies who have more control of the message pushed by the media and politicians than any organised political group i can think of.
the public seem to be (rightfully) suspicious of both major parties, yet the mining companies have ads everywhere telling us how much good they do for the community. i'm not sure too many people question it either...
and then there's the issue of the balance of power being held by a couple of ex-national party independents, but that's a whole other story.
not trying to discourage people, just my 2 cents.
we've been trained to understand that drugs = the boys in blue kicking your door down and hauling you away. The Fear is instilled in all of us, no matter what our opinion may be regarding prohibition.
there are people willing to fight a lot of different causes in australia; be it your fundamentalist christians or your hardcore forest activists risking their lives to stand up for something they believe in.
but when it comes to "drugs" the stigma is so great, the propaganda so overwhelming and the threat of legal issues or being targeted/singled-out means less folks are prepared to stick their neck out.
we've become accustomed to letting the state violate our privacy, use violence and imprisonment to deter drug use - to protect us from the terrible harms of "reefer madness" or whatever - that to many, the idea of legalising cannabis is unthinkable. people are that well-trained by the media, that most politicians who would happily put a stop to this insane 'war' are too afraid to be labelled "soft on drugs" or whatever.
i'm sorry to be so negative, because i'm all for such a legislative shift - but can you imagine the howls of invective that would spew forth from tony abbott and his cronies if the gillard govt were to legalise cannabis - even for medical use?
it's an embarrassment, but this country isn't a leader in progressive thought. i just don't think the political discourse is mature enough to cope with such an idea - we're still so isolated in many ways, no matter how small the world seems now.
beer, tv and consumption are the drugs of choice for most aussies.
oh, and a few bongs now and then...but the public are so used to being manipulated by the people that supposedly represent us - or taking the tabloid shock-jock shit-stirring media at face value - that it is hard to see huge social change occurring here without some sort of catalyst to shock people out of their complacency.
the US has high unemployment and economic woes to contend with, opening up all kinds of options.
australia has the resources industry; some of the most outspoken and active anti-drugs campaigners in this country are the mining companies who have more control of the message pushed by the media and politicians than any organised political group i can think of.
the public seem to be (rightfully) suspicious of both major parties, yet the mining companies have ads everywhere telling us how much good they do for the community. i'm not sure too many people question it either...
and then there's the issue of the balance of power being held by a couple of ex-national party independents, but that's a whole other story.
not trying to discourage people, just my 2 cents.
Last edited:
thestudent14
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2010
- Messages
- 1,619
Good post Space, and sadly I agree with you. One positive thing I guess is that with it becoming legalized in Colorado/Washington, it does open the topic up for a bit more discussion here too. I agree it's very hard for people to speak out about their views, I posted this petition on my Facebook page knowing what my family thinks of it and what I'll cop for it, all I can do is arm myself with as much information as possible and disprove them on every count. But if I had my job on the line speaking out about the topic I believe would definitely deter 90-95%+ of people.
I hope it gets a decent amount of signatures? Perhaps we should post this in every part of Bluelight aswell, as it is not restricted to signing people from Aus. I'm sure I'd sign a legalise in a random American state if it was posted in AusDD, can't hurt to try, right mods?
I hope it gets a decent amount of signatures? Perhaps we should post this in every part of Bluelight aswell, as it is not restricted to signing people from Aus. I'm sure I'd sign a legalise in a random American state if it was posted in AusDD, can't hurt to try, right mods?