Australian Cannabis Legislation

[andyturbo]

I'm keen to hear peoples thoughts on Australian cannabis legislation in the near future.

Do you see states decriminalizing and/or legalising pot sometime soon?

It's pretty much legal to some degree in almost all US states now. I knew about medical marijuana but only recently became aware of the many states that have legalised it in general. And it's as easy as buying tabaco in Canada now also.

Not a big pot smoker myself but am hoping Australia follows suit and finally changes the law regarding this plant.

 

[losthippy]

Not to be a buzzkill, but I struggle to see how decrim/legalization will work here in Oz without authorities turfing out collateral issues that punish cannabis users so efficiently. I've been through Canada and parts of the US and Europe where medicinal and recreational cannabis use scarcely rates a mention, whereas here it is rolled up with all other forms of drug use and packaged as a threat to wider society that must be stamped out at any cost. There is no point of separation between cannabis and 'the rest' (at least as far as recreational use is concerned). I never saw an RBT in any of my travel OS, yet this is the biggest crippler authorities here have in their arsenal to keep drug affected drivers off the road. And let's face it - most of us have to drive. No need to go over old ground, but somehow this is a problem unique to Australia and maybe the rest of the world just doesn't get it. Attrition is the name of the game in Oz and there's still only one team on the paddock at the moment.

 

[JessFR]

It will be legalized sooner or later, I have no doubt of that.

It's the nature of the system. People want cannabis. The arguments against legalizing it don't hold up. Which means the underlying system naturally preferences legalization. It takes positive enforcement to keep it illegal. And while opposition to its legalization is capable of giving in and legalizing it, it is fundamentally impossible to stop people from wanting it.

One side can give up, the other can not. One side can be defeated, and the other probably can't. Which means sooner or later the right people will be in the right places to make it happen. It is inevitable.

As for if it's likely in the near future. That's much harder to determine. Will it happen 5 years from now? Doubtful. 10? Probably not. 50? Probably. 100? I'd say nearly certainly.

This experiment of prohibition that was doomed from the start is already past its peak. It's likely it will slowly deteriorate, with minor setbacks along the way, from here on out.

And one day we will look back on this disastrous experiment and all the lives it cost and future generations will wonder how we could have been so foolish.

 

[someguyoz]

WAY later rather than sooner. I've had severe chronic pain for 18yrs and can't even get industrial hemp based cbd.

So I think your timeline is fairly reasonable Jess...it won't be in my lifetime, I'm fairly sure of that.

 

[JessFR]

Probably depends on how long you live.

Assuming there isn't some major war or something that completely stalls domestic political progress for years. I'd say the process of change has already begun.

Im expecting medical Marijuana to become pretty common within the next 10-15 years. With recreational use being legalized at some point within the decade or so beyond that.

Id say most people younger than late 30s early 40s will live to see recreational use

 

[losthippy]

I think it's fair to say that just waiting things out is a symptom of the atrophy we've allowed to define our lives in a prohibitionist culture. Unlike the McRoach and AMP era of bygone days, there are few identities/movements agitating for change at greater than a regional level for people to get behind and support. ^Hardly comforting, too, that many current recreational users will be dead long before the laws change. Feels like trying to push a rhino up a tree atm.

Leading up to the Federal election I've seen nothing from pollies at State or Federal level about decrim/legalisation or informed debates to at least get voters talking. Seems like a non-issue. With the exception of a plodding response to legitimizing medicinal cannabis we're as far away from broader change as we've ever been. And with that in mind, many consumers will give in to the pressure and meekly fade away, while the balance will continue to resist and try to stay one step in front of LE as they go about living their lives.

PS. fyi - 33 US states permit medicinal or recreations cannabis use and Oregon just legalized shrooms. How far back in the dark ages is Oz?

 

[swilow]

How far back in the dark ages is Oz?

We are fucking prehistoric.

I have more hope than some- I think we'll see medical weed within the next 4-5 years. It's already starting and some of the weed is awesome ? We're moving on issues like euthanasia, which is one of those things that is all about autonomy and choice- not dissimilar to some of the issues behind drug use.

But given that it's illegal to buy nicotine vape juice in Aus, I really don't know. ?

 

[phenethylo J]

I heard that in Australia they view killing someone in a video game the same way as actual murder.

 

[Flynnal]

Look, abortion has been legal in much of the industrialized world. For DECADES.

Only just last year did they actually legalize abortion in NSW. The roll out has been pretty slow but certain. It took years for women to not be defined under the crimes act as criminals (even if they were not prosecuted by the authorities). In QLD there was a controversy when a woman and her partner obtained the abortion drug RU486 and they were actively prosecuted for that. This shit would never have happened anywhere else in the industrialized world. But in Australia? You betcha.

We have a LONG fucking way to go before you see recreational cannabis.

We are the laughing stock of the world, and deservedly so.