Recently, one of the political parties here in Aus, The Green Party, released a policy that they want to legalise marijuana use in Australia. Unfortunately, this party is not a mainstream one and holds only a few seats in parliament.
To continue on introducing this theme, lets look at the local arguments for and against legalisation in Australia.
Against Arguments
- Cannabis is a gateway drug to more hardcore drugs: this argument was discounted years ago. Although many hard-core drug users also use cannabis, the majority of pot users do not do hard-core drugs
- Legalisation will increase Cannabis use: there is no evidence that legalisation increases use, and as Australia already has one of the highest pot user rates in the world, this is a non-issue
- Health Concerns: research does show that there are some health concerns including....
- Around 10% of adults and one in six teens who use regularly will become dependent
- Regular cannabis use doubles the risk of psychotic symptoms and schizophrenia
- Teen cannabis use is associated with poorer school outcomes but causation has not been established.
- Driving under the influence of cannabis doubles the risk of a car crash
- Smoking while pregnant affects a baby’s birth weight.
All of these issues can also be attributed to alcohol and/or tobacco usage which are both legal drugs.
For Arguments
- Reducing crime and social costs: more policing resources could be diverted to tackling more pressing issues such as violent crimes. Law enforcement has little to no effect on reducing drug use in Australia.
- Raising tax revenue: more money would be available to support the economy. In a country of only 23 million people, this is important and estimates place the tax revenue that could be gained from cannabis legalisation at around $800 million annually.
- Civil liberties: Many activities that are legal are potentially harmful: driving a car, drinking alcohol, bungee jumping. Rather than making them illegal, there are guidelines, laws and education to make them safer that creates a balance between civil liberties and safety.
- Medicinal Properties: much research shows the benefits of cannabis for many medicinal purposes. Australia is starting on the pathway to introducing cannabis for medicinal reasons.
Marijuana legalisation is relatively new in most jurisdictions so it will be interesting to see how change occurs in Australia. Most arguments against legalisation are very weak and, apart from the health issues, are not really arguments. With other harmful drugs being available legally, such as alcohol and tobacco, the legalisation of cannabis would not place any more harm on society than these other legal drugs currently do, and I would argue that they would pose less risk to users.
Step 1 on the road to legalisation is education. We are at the starting blocks.
Thanks for reading!
Come and join us in the Team Australia Discord Channel
