Families could be allowed to grow TWELVE cannabis plants under proposed law to legalise marijuana introduced to parliament today
- Greens MP Cate Faehrmann will introduce the controversial bill on Wednesday
- Households with more than two people could grow up to 12 marijuana plants
- Taxing recreational and medicinal pot could add $2billion to the economy
Recreational and medicinal cannabis could be legal in New South Wales this year as the Greens push a new proposed law.
Greens MP and drug law reform spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann will introduce the controversial bill to the upper house of state parliament on Wednesday.
The bill would allow a household with two people to grow up to six cannabis plants, and households with more than two people to grow up to 12.
Greens MP and drug law reform spokesperson Cate Faehrmann, who has been a vocal critic of the NSW government’s zero-tolerance drug policy
Pictured: Cate Faehrmann with a worker at Bello Hemp Store in Bellingen, northern NSW, in December
Ms Faehrmann, who has been a vocal critic of the government’s zero-tolerance policy for illicit drug use, said one in three Australians have used marijuana.
‘Prohibition has well and truly failed and governments all around the world are finally accepting this fact,’ she said.
‘We’ve seen legalisation in Canada, Uruguay, and parts of the US and elsewhere and the sky hasn’t fallen in.’
The ACT Government decriminalised the personal use of cannabis in September 2019, allowing adults to have up to 50g and grow up to two cannabis plants per person, with a maximum of four per household.
But over the border in NSW, anyone caught with the drug faces up to two years in jail, and people growing fewer than five plants face a maximum of 10.
Anyone caught with marijuana in NSW faces up to two years in jail, while people growing less than five plant face a maximum of 10 (stock image of a marijuana plant)
‘Decriminalisation is better than prohibition, but it is still making thousands of people come into contact with the black market. This is not only crazy but it’s dangerous,’ Ms Faehrmann said.
‘The fact is cannabis poses much less harm to individual users and to our society compared to alcohol, tobacco or many prescription drugs.’
She said the Greens bill would ensure cannabis products were labelled with the strain, THC and CBD levels, and include health warnings.
Retailers would also be required to check ID and refuse service to anyone under 18, ‘unlike drug dealers’, the MP added.
In 2018, the federal parliamentary budget office found that taxing and regulating cannabis would provide $2billion to the Australian economy each year.
The bill will be brought forward for debate this year.
Cannabis oil became available at Australian pharmacies a few weeks ago without the need for a prescription, special approval or a referral.
Low-dose cannabidiol, a derivative of marijuana, does not get users ‘high’ and provides unparalleled pain relief.
Laboratory studies by researchers at University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Biosciencehave also shown synthetic cannabidiol can kill bacteria in diseases such as gonorrhea, a sexually transmissible infection.
The research has been hailed as a potential world medical breakthrough, amid predictions drug-resistant infections could result in 10 million deaths worldwide a year by 2050 unless an alternate treatment is found.
One doctor estimated it will be 10-15 years before it becomes an approved antibiotic if further trials are successful.
