|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Australia: Battle Looms Over Cannabis
ccguide Monday 11 Mar 2002 Pubdate: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 Source: West Australian (Australia) Copyright: 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited Contact: Website: http://www.thewest.com.au Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495 Author: Liz Tickner Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) BATTLE LOOMS OVER CANNABIS West Australians, especially parents, are being urged to mount a campaign against the State Government's plans to soften cannabis laws. Liberal leader Colin Barnett yesterday released a report by the party's drug strategy spokesman Simon O'Brien which showed similar policies in South Australia had led to growth in organised crime and drug-related home invasions. Mr Barnett said the report, Decriminalisation Of Cannabis: The Wrong Approach, also showed greatly increased availability of cannabis to young people in SA following changes in its laws and minimal impact on freeing up the court system. Making cannabis a "little bit legal" was sending the wrong message to young people, he said, especially when medical evidence linked its use to mental illness. "To ignore this evidence and push ahead with decriminalisation would be madness and I urge the community, particularly parents, to lobby the Government to abandon its policy," he said. He said the Government's proposed laws - to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of cannabis and the cultivation of two plants - was inconsistent with its other recent legislation targeting organised crime. In SA, decriminalisation had resulted in organised crime groups providing hydroponic equipment to individual growers who then got a cut from major deals, the involvement of bikie gangs in growing cannabis and armed home-invasions. Fifty-five per cent of 14-19 year olds in SA had used cannabis compared with the national average of 45 per cent, Mr Barnett said. The Government appointed a drug law reform working group after the community drug summit last August to consider how to decriminalise the possession and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis. It is expected to report by March 31. Mr O'Brien, who worked in the Australian Customs Service for 16 years before entering politics, said a single hydroponically grown plant could produce up to 1kg of cannabis and could be harvested four times a year. But an average daily smoker consumed about 520g a year which meant that an individual could grow 23 times more cannabis in a year than a daily smoker would use. Mr Barnett said the hydroponically-grown cannabis being sold today was much more potent than the cannabis smoked during the 1960s and 1970s. Premier Geoff Gallop denied the Government was going soft on drugs and said it would continue to penalise dealers. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!