Thursday,3 April 2025
Members statements
Cannabis law reform
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Cannabis law reform
Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:00): The residents of Berwick have spoken, and what I am referring to there is an article that I read in the Berwick Star News where a journalist went out and asked residents what they thought of Legalise Cannabis Victoria’s push to reform cannabis laws. Discussion was had around a focus on police resources on real crime. Harry from Harry’s Clothing in Berwick was quite supportive of this push and said:
… “why not?”
“I think people should be able to do what they want to do in their own homes …
“As long as they’re not under the influence when driving and so on, because to me that’s the only way …
we are going to go and stop real crime.
On crime reduction, that is what we saw when we went up to the ACT and the ACT experience of decriminalisation – a 90 per cent reduction in arrests for cannabis-related offences. Harry went on to talk about medicinal cannabis and made the point that it is one of the more effective avenues of treating chronic pain and other illnesses. What we are seeing here is a real change in rhetoric around medicinal cannabis because somebody knows somebody who uses medicinal cannabis these days, particularly in Victoria. More people are using cannabis to treat symptoms, such as pain management, and with an ageing population we are seeing a real change in rhetoric towards that. Cannabis use is therapeutic for many people. Finally, one resident said:
It’s legal in a lot of other countries, so why not here?
I appreciate the article.