Page 3817 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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The government agreed and said it intends to deliver a public information campaign, after passage of the bill, which will seek to inform the Canberra community of its provisions and the ongoing risks associated with cannabis possession or use. I understand that my colleague Shane Rattenbury will today present amendments which will go even further and make the commencement of the bill contingent on the government developing and making public, through a notifiable instrument, guidance material explaining the legal and health implications of cultivating, growing and possessing cannabis under the new provisions.
Secondly, the HACS committee talked about the issue of a legal response. Recommendation 11 stated:
The Committee recommends that the ACT government intervene in any prosecution by the Commonwealth of ACT residents who cultivate or possess cannabis in accordance with the Drugs of Dependence (Personal Cannabis Use) Amendment Bill 2018 to defend the intent of the Bill.
The government’s response was that it noted the recommendation and “will consider appropriate steps to ensure the intent of the bill is delivered on as it is implemented”.
In voting positively for this bill I am relying on the government’s responses to these recommendations and the proposed amendments that will be moved by both the ALP and my colleague Mr Rattenbury today. First, they will hopefully ensure that people of Canberra actually understand what the legal situation is. On that subject, I think it is very irresponsible and misleading of the media to report that this bill will legalise cannabis. It will not. The commonwealth law stands. There are many things—in fact, most things—to do with cannabis which will not be in any way affected by this bill. Supply, getting the seeds if you are going to cultivate—I could go on at some length but this bill, if passed, will not legalise cannabis in the ACT. I think it is irresponsible for it to be reported or said that it will.
Because of the fact that it will not and cannot legalise cannabis, I am not going to be pushing today for the various extensions that were recommended in the HACS report. All these would be absolutely wonderful if we could, in fact, achieve the main aim, which is taking cannabis out of the criminal justice system and treating it purely as a health issue, like we do with tobacco. All the proposed extensions in the HACS report move the situation further away from the simple cannabis notice and into areas where, I think, the commonwealth is much more likely to prosecute.
If the commonwealth prosecutes—and I sincerely hope that it does not and it comes to the conclusion that there are much more important things to do with limited commonwealth police resources and limited court resources—then I am relying on the ACT government to take appropriate steps to ensure that the intent of the bill is delivered on as it is implemented. The last thing I want to see is some innocent person thinking that cannabis has been legalised because that is what he or she heard in the media and finding themselves prosecuted and, in the worst case, in jail.
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