“We’ve been told to wait for cannabis law reform for far too long, even when it’s clear that the majority of harm is caused by policing and the war on drugs, not the plant. Millions in Australia and around the world enjoy recreational cannabis, and pretending otherwise is becoming increasingly ridiculous. At least 40% of Australians have used cannabis and any law that criminalises almost half of us must go.” said Australian Greens senator David Shoebridge from New South Wales, who plans to introduce independent legislation to legalize recreational cannabis later this year.
The Green Party in Australia received legal advice on a constitutional matter from Patrick Keyser, dean of the Australian Catholic University’s law school and constitutional human rights lawyer, pointing out that under the Australian constitution, federal laws trump devolved criminal law as the state law due to British Commonwealth regulations for the cultivation of licensed varieties including their registration.
“Australia risks being left behind if we wait for piecemeal reform through the states and territories,” Greens senator David Shoebridge explained. “Federal Parliament can legalize cannabis for adult use across the country. We don’t have to wait for patchwork reform in the states and territories, we can just legislate it.”
“Legal advice received from my office indicates that the Greens can pass a bill to legalize cannabis nationwide. All state laws criminalizing its legal use, possession and sale may be circumvented. We could legalize cannabis across the country this year!” wrote New South Wales Greens Senator David Shoebridge on Twitter.
Section 51 of the constitution “could regulate cannabis strains as plant varieties and force their listing on a schedule over which the Commonwealth has sole regulatory control,” said constitutionalist Patrick Keyser who advised the Green party.
According to section 51 of the Australian Constitution, “Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth in respect of: (xviii) copyright, patents of inventions and designs and trade marks;‘ and the legal advice provided by the dean of the Australian Catholic University’s law school to the Green party recommends the use of this section within the framework of the Commonwealth of Nations for the licensing of cultivation and sale of recreational cannabis by enacting a federal decriminalization law that enacts the devolved criminal law of each state where the possession and use of cannabis is prosecuted.
The state of the capital Canberra became the only state in Australia to decriminalize in 2019 the possession of cannabis up to 2 plants per person and 150 grams of green and 50 grams of dried cannabis, while the medicinal use of cannabis was legalized in 2016 and is only allowed with a prescription from a doctor. However, 78% of Australians oppose criminalisation of its recreational use and 40% of Australians support its legalization. It is estimated that 36% of Australians have tried and used cannabis before and 11.6% have reported using cannabis within the last year. Personal use of cannabis has so far been legalized in Canada, Jamaica, Uruguay, Malta, Mexico, South Africa and 19 U.S. states.
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