Pubdate: Mon, 20 May 2013
Source: Northern Star (Australia)
Copyright: 2013 APN News & Media Ltd
Contact: http://www.northernstar.com.au/contact/feedback/
Website: http://www.northernstar.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5149
Author: Roderick Makim

LEGALISING CANNABIS FOR RECREATION IS THE OBVIOUS NEXT STEP

OPINION: Is this the start of the legalisation of cannabis in Australia?

Last week, a parliamentary inquiry in New South Wales recommended the 
government in that state change the law to allow the legal use of 
cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The committee included politicians from the Liberals, Nationals, ALP, 
Greens, and the Shooters and Fishers Party - and the report was 
unanimously adopted by all members.

Before ganja-lovers get too excited, it is important to point out 
this was simply a recommendation that is yet to be acted upon, and 
that NSW is a long way from many of us.

Also, the legal medicinal use of cannabis was quite strictly defined 
to serious cases such as AIDS sufferers.

Still, there have been a few cases in local courts recently where 
defendants on cannabis charges have argued their medical need for the 
drug, and if medicinal marijuana is allowed in NSW it probably won't 
be long before the Queensland government is asked to consider the same issue.

The question is, if medicinal cannabis was ever allowed in Australia, 
would general decriminalisation of the drug follow?

You only need to look at the US to see a similar scenario.

California was the first state to legalise the drug for medicinal 
purposes, and in 2012 Washington became the first state to 
decriminalise for the drug for recreational purposes.

The arguments against legalisation of cannabis tend to stress the 
term "gateway drug" - and many a defendant in court has been warned 
of the progression from cannabis to harder drugs in other offenders.

But the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre estimates more than 
a third of Australians have tried the drug, while figures for other 
drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine or methylamphetamine are all below 10%.

It seems a simple exercise in logic to realise the majority of the 
people who use marijuana don't end up using it as a gateway to more 
dangerous drugs at all.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom