Page 3811 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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amounts of cannabis in the ACT but who is prosecuted under the commonwealth law. Unfortunately, it cannot stop someone being arrested and charged if the commonwealth officials were minded to do so or prosecuted if the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions thought it was appropriate to do so. The use of the defence provided by ACT law would be a matter for the courts to consider.
There are many steps that the commonwealth must take between arresting someone and successfully prosecuting them in court. Here in the ACT the government hopes sincerely that the time and resources of our Federal Police, prosecutors and courts will not be wasted pursuing individual cannabis users who are acting in accordance with ACT law.
Given the complex interactions with the commonwealth law, the government has committed to a review of these reforms within three years of them taking effect. In supporting the bill in principle, the government has been clear in its commitment to ensure that the measures do not erode the existing restrictions on the possession of cannabis by young people and that any changes adequately ensure that young people are not exposed to cannabis or cannabis smoke.
The bill as supported by the government also maintains a distinction between artificial and non-artificial cultivation, as artificial cultivation can manipulate the strength of the THC of the cannabis plant and the yield of a cannabis plant by, for example, generating multiple growth cycles per year from the one plant.
Most importantly, these reforms treat addiction as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue, and may prevent individuals from unnecessarily coming into contact with the criminal justice system. The ACT government is committed to a justice system that is restorative and rehabilitative. When it comes to people who face our courts primarily as a result of addiction, it is important to focus on the evidence that we have about their behaviour. The evidence is overwhelming that treating addiction as an issue of right and wrong is not only ineffective but also is not in accordance with what we know about the biology and psychology of drug use.
By treating cannabis addiction as a health issue, we can address these dependencies and in turn we can build more resilient people, families and communities. That is why this government has also made the establishment of the drug and alcohol court one of its top priorities. It is an example of therapeutic justice, which prioritises the treatment of the causes of crime and the prevention of recidivism.
This bill, as it will be amended in the later discussion, reflects a progressive and innovative approach to tackling drug reform. With these appropriate government amendments, it represents a step forward towards the goal of minimising the harm of drugs in the community. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (10.13), by leave: Thank you, members. I appreciate the opportunity to speak again. Obviously quite a bit has happened from when we last spoke about the bill in this place to where we are now. Our position has not changed, but there is certainly more evidence and information before us and obviously we have the amendments that had been mooted but that we had not seen. When this bill was
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