Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (1 September) . . Page.. 2672 ..
MR RUGENDYKE (continuing):
The buzz word that Michael Moore used during his campaign in 1992 was "mystique". He was supposedly removing the mystique associated with cannabis, but what he has achieved has been much worse. Instead, he has implanted misconceptions and confusion in the minds of our young people. We must improve cannabis education to stop our children taking up this destructive drug. Education starts with sending the right message. Unfortunately, the present laws do not achieve that. Our kids think that cannabis is legal and they think that cannabis is not harmful. Our health and education objectives must work hand in hand with our laws. However, our endeavours to weed out drug abuse are way behind the eight ball because our laws have created this mirage.
Mr Speaker, this Bill proposes to abolish the issuing of on-the-spot fines for cannabis offences. Yes, Mr Speaker, I am in fact proposing to take away a penalty. Under the present laws, police may issue a simple cannabis offence notice, a SCON, with a $100 fine for cultivating up to five cannabis plants, for possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis or for being caught using cannabis. No criminal convictions are recorded for such offences, provided the fines are paid on time. The Bill proposes to repeal those provisions. However, police will still retain the discretion to issue cautions for minor cannabis offences.
The decriminalisation of cannabis has opened up serious concerns in every aspect of the implication, administration and enforcement of these laws. Firstly, the relaxation of cannabis laws has created a perception that cannabis is a legal drug and is not harmful. But the evidence linking cannabis consumption to depression and other mental illness has made it clear that there is a health issue that is causing enormous angst in the community. The impacts of cannabis-induced dependency have been so severe and rapidly rising that Dr Andrew Refshauge, speaking as Health Minister in the New South Wales Parliament, was prompted to make the following comments on 8 September last year:
What was being experienced at the front line in our hospitals with regard to cannabis was most disturbing. Between 1993 and 1997 there had been an almost 10 per cent increase in the number of cannabis-dependent patients suffering from drug-induced psychotic illness. A patient suffering from psychosis loses contact with reality, hears voices or sees things that are not there; his thoughts are confused. The available evidence tends to explode the myth that cannabis is a harmless drug.
Dr Refshauge went on to say:
Between 1993 and 1997 the percentage of cannabis-dependent patients suffering from drug-induced psychosis rose from 15 per cent to 26 per cent. In patients suffering from other forms of psychosis, the percentage also increased from 4.5 per cent to 9.1 per cent over the same period. There is significant anecdotal evidence to suggest that there is a link between cannabis and mental illness. We know that people suffering from, or susceptible to, schizophrenia may be at risk if using cannabis.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .