17 October 2019

Canberra Liberals to overturn cannabis laws if elected

| Lachlan Roberts
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cannabis laws

Jeremy Hanson said he has spoken with the Federal Government about the ACT’s cannabis laws but said he had not asked them to intervene. Photo: File.

Canberra Liberals’ Jeremy Hanson said he would be concerned if his Federal counterpart tried to overrule the ACT Government’s cannabis laws, but says that the Canberra Liberals will overturn the controversial bill if they are elected in the 2020 ACT Election.

Commonwealth Attorney-General Christian Porter has the power to overturn the ACT Government’s cannabis laws, which allows the individual possession of up to 50 grams of dry cannabis, 150 grams of fresh cannabis and two plants, prompting ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay to write to Mr Porter on Monday (14 October), warning him not to overrule or intervene in the ACT’s “democratic process”.

“The Act has been passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly as a self-governing body with the authority to make laws for people in the ACT,” the letter reads.

“I reiterate my previous advice that this legislation expresses the will of the ACT people and convey my deep concern should the Commonwealth seek in any way to overrule and intervene in the democratic processes of the ACT.”

Mr Hanson said he has spoken with the Federal Government about the ACT’s cannabis laws but said he had not asked them to intervene.

“I have had some brief conversations but I have not asked them to intervene in any sense,” Mr Hanson told Region Media. “The correspondence from the Federal Health Minister and the Federal Attorney-General has not been at our request and they did that entirely independent of us.

“I am very strong on territory rights and I don’t like it when the Federal Government overrules ACT legislation.”

But Mr Hanson said it was “nonsense” for Mr Ramsay to describe the cannabis laws, which will come into effect on 31 January 2020, as the “will of the people”.

“The fact that the Government had to move 15 amendments indicates how poorly this bill was drafted,” Mr Hanson said. “This bill is more about an individual MLA trying to get political attention and notoriety, rather than a compelling need for change.

“This was really a squabble between Labor and the Greens to see who would be the first to legalise cannabis.

“There was really no evidence put forward by anyone that this was a good idea. Medical groups, lawyers and even the Australian Federal Police Association considered the bill to be flawed from both a health and legal aspect.”

Mr Hanson said a number of people have contacted his office to share their “harrowing stories” of the effect that cannabis has had on their own families. He is concerned that the ACT Government has “condoned cannabis and made it more available for young people”, describing the new bill as reckless.

“We are going to have a situation where more young people are potentially in harm’s way and I am really disappointed that the government has gone down this track,” Mr Hanson said.

Mr Hanson said the Canberra Liberals would reinstate the current legislation if they form government next year because the current laws “strikes the right balance”.

“We don’t want to see people with small amounts of cannabis for recreational use getting caught up in the legal system,” Mr Hanson said.

“The current bill strikes the right balance between making sure that cannabis is still seen as a potentially dangerous substance while ensuring the legal response to that is impunitive.

“We would like to revert to the existing laws which have been working very satisfactorily for quite a period of time, and we will do that if we form government.”

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Mike of Canberra10:40 pm 17 Oct 19

I keep hearing that Canberra has the smartest and best-informed community in the country. And then I read the comments on articles such as this one in the Riot Act and wonder how this impression became so widespread. Could I ask what is so great about regular high-volume cannabis use? Is it the slightly skewed personal ambience it produces? Is it the well-publicised risk of mental health problems up to and including schizophrenia? Or is it the fact that users can imagine themselves to be John, Paul, George, Ringo, Mick, Keith or any other celebrity users who have had ready access to quality medical support? At the very least, it is arguable that a high degree of caution needs to be exercised in this area and that seems to me to be what the Libs are advocating. Could I ask the enthusiastic pot proponents infesting this comments segment whether, knowing what we now know, they would have supported the legal, widespread and high-volume usage of cigarettes? Would they have been quite so keen on alcohol given its potential for highly dysfunctional social and health effects? If there was a prize for being one-eyed, Canberrans and, in particular, many of those commenting on this article would really be in the running.

The discussion is beneficial yo see who all the drugos are. Makes vetting candidates for employment easy.

petunia petal1:03 pm 18 Oct 19

The Conversation has a good article on this – evidence and fact based. Ive never smoked cannabis, but I’m all for evidence based policy making and listening to experts. Isn’t that what this all about? Looking at other jurisdictions and seeing what happened? Let’s keep these people out of the courts and i’m sure the police would prefer not to investigate these matters. The Liberals just want to rule on ideology. As for Canberrans being smarter? hmmm we still haven’t figured out senate voting because Zed got back in.

Mike of Canberra1:55 pm 18 Oct 19

Petunia, I’d have said the real question mark over Canberrans’ alleged smartness is their practice of returning Barr and Co again and again.

Lee V'me-Alone2:00 pm 18 Oct 19

“Could I ask the enthusiastic pot proponents infesting this comments segment whether, knowing what we now know, they would have supported the legal, widespread and high-volume usage of cigarettes? Would they have been quite so keen on alcohol given its potential for highly dysfunctional social and health effects?”

Actually, if you look into most articles/stories on legalizing cannabis in Australia, most of the supporters use cigarettes and alcohol as examples of why it is ridiculous that cannabis is illegal, as it is far safer than either of them. People have been using cannabis for thousands of years, and there are no recorded deaths.

Mike of Canberra11:23 pm 18 Oct 19

Lee, this isn’t about pot potentially causing deaths. Rather, it goes to various health issues, especially pertaining to mental functioning. While I’d never place pot in the same risk category as heroin or acid, there’s little dispute it does impair the mind’s operation for a while at least. The question is whether we need to add to the range of things that can do that or, indeed, whether we bow to the already widespread use of pot.

Lee V'me-Alone2:26 pm 19 Oct 19

You can’t even place it in the same risk category as alcohol or cigarettes. It is far less dangerous and the research has been done and there countless long-term users in the world. We have known about cannabis for a very long time.

Like you said – it is already widely used and has been for a long time. This fight is over, it’s just a matter of when.

Adults deserve to have a safer alternative to alcohol.

Yet another reason not to vote for the libs. If you’re so concerned about drugs in society when will you be putting up a bill to make alcohol illegal? Hypocrites.

Agree, I’m sure there are significantly more ‘harrowing stories’ involving alcohol than all alternative drugs combined.

sweepercover3:24 pm 17 Oct 19

One step forward, two steps back.

OK, Mr Ramsay, I’ll jump in first. Some backbencher, that no-one’s heard of, cobbles together a bill and somehow massages it through the LA process and this somehow represents the ‘Will of the people’? Pish-posh! And exactly what problem has this solved?

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