What can I/We do to help legalize cannabis in Australia?

[BlackBeauty]

I'm no polly but I believe that our ways forward for the decriminilisation/legalisation of marijuana will be through the emergence of medical marijuana in Australia. Many US states have such laws however they still struggle with the federal government when trying to uphold what their local laws allow....but still, it's another step ahead of where Australia is right now in terms of drug laws!

 

I have also noticed recently an increased interest and uptake of Vapourisers - I have a Volcano and this unit in particular is being designed and targeted towards medical mj use in health facilities by their German manufacturers. It is a clean and efficient method of delivery of THC and completely kills most people's arguments against weed for it being damaging to the lungs, filthy and dirty. In fact, when I was in Amsterdam this April I bumped into a Californian couple who worked in a medical marijuana outlet and they had many Volcanoes in use where they worked which is a great thing for those medical users who cannot tolerate smoking the herb.

 

So, I think we have more chance of being heard by the pollies and the authorities if we approach this issue from a Medical Marijuana perspective. From what I've seen come out of the U.S., sure- many politicians are still very ignorant about the power of medical marijuana (see links below) but it just makes it more obvious to the public that this supposed War on Drugs is a construct of power-hungry politicians and the authoritarian, control-hungry systems which govern our every day lives. Then again, there are others like Ron Paul who more level-headed about such issues and are not afraid to see marijuana in an objective light. Here are some examples of pure ignorance from Mit Romney and Rudy Giuliani:

 

Rudy Giuliani

 

Another thing to help us on the way forward has already been covered in this topic but it's important to re-iterate the importance of being good citizens otherwise. Don't give them a reason to believe the stereo-types. From doing the Dopefiend Podcasts over the last year, I've met many stoners from many different walks of life from all over the world. We all have in common our sacred sacrament cannabis, but we hail from all areas of the society - from doctors to lawyers, from IT professionals to teachers and even police! Let's keep being active and getting the word out there! Above all, educating yourself on the true facts about weed is what you can do when others around you are quick to pass judgement on 'potheads' and 'stoners'.....

 

Peace

Edited March 14, 2008 by Oz

[iamnotacop]

I think that the "Medicinal Marijuana" issue is only a side issue. I don't even think that it is too good to be going for this as a single issue. I personally believe that the whole approach to drugs, to all drugs, should be from a medical point of view, and not the criminal justice system. Let's face it, we all use drugs for medicinal purposes, whether we know it or not. We are trying to change the chemicals in our brain, to make us feel better. It is a medical issue, simple as that.

 

In my opinion the only way we are going to win this war is by continually pointing out that prohibition does more harm than the drugs themselves. More money is being wasted and more lives are being destroyed, not by drugs but by societies reaction to them. We need the common people to realize this, not necessarily the politicians. The pollies are not going to change while the majority of the public have been brainwashed, and continue to believe the crap that is spoon fed to them. We need to wash their brains again, with truth and logic, so that they can see reality, and then help us to change the unjust laws.

 

Letters to the editor are good, when they get published. I have sent in over a dozen, but I am proud to have had 4 printed, all with my name attached. The localised papers are more willing to print them, especially if they are longer than the ones with the minimal words allowed, because they are always in need of material. The bigger papers do not seem to care enough to print them unless they are under the word limit, or specifically in relation to another persons letter. Leaving feedback online on newspaper sites will also be effective, because it opens dialogue/debate.

Edited November 26, 2007 by iamnotacop

[magool]

hey ppls

 

i'm about as new to this as they come - i've just joined this evening. i'm passionate about relaxing certain laws to allow people to grow for personal use.

 

i've found that there's not a great many groups/organisations in australia (queensland in particular) which are really pro-active in seeing that the vast majority of the naive population being retro-educated ie. educated with actual fact and not scare mongering propaganda.

 

this site/group would have the be the best that i've found to date. i am curious to know if anyone is aware of any groups in south east queensland who are pro-active and are legal-savy when it comes to "fighting the good fight"?

 

thanks for taking the time to read my very first post, and i look forward to meeting a lot of you in the not too distant future!

 

cheers

 

-magool.

[Rocker]

Hi & welcome.

I'm fairly new here too.

 

I can't help you with any groups but I think it's getting worse in our state rather than better.

Maybe something can get going on this thread.

 

Actually I don't think NORML is even in OZ is it.

We certainly need something.

[bloodshot_eyes]

I really wish there was a movement, really pushing that I could join to make a difference but I dont see any organisation doing anything of note at the moment. I know that HEMP SA used to do stuff but I havn't heard head nor tale of them in a long time. Does anyone know what HEMP SA is up to at the moment, an if they even still exist?

[Dragonfan]

As another 'relative' noob I've often wondered myself what organisations [if any] there are in Aus where you can make yourself heard and get to debunk the marijuana myths etc . . . and yeah, why is there no chapter of NORML in Aus, I've always wondered that too . . . and as for the Hemp Parties here, well the Hemp mob at Nimbin didn't even 'qualify' as a party for the last election . . . very sad really, and as for Queensland, 'pfft' Police State mentality still seems to rule up here!

 

If anyone could found an honest, worthwhile lobby group in this country I'd be all for it [even though I'm pretty much housebound these days and of not much use to anyone without mj for my chronic pain] but I certainly have some 'skills' [admin mostly] that I'd gladly offer free gratis as such for the good of the 'cause' . . .

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

Well one thing that might be worth having a go at is getting hold of the fellas who do the top end commercial end of organised crime, and ask them to stop paying police and government officials to keep things in the dark ages...

 

the Fitzgerald enquirey (which of course was the look int the herendously corrupt condition of Qld's governement some years ago) started out it's huge report finding withthe statement that illegal marijuana is one of (if not "the") main influence for the breakdown of police and governemnt integrity. Fitzgerald insisted the immediate and serious examination of the state drug laws and implementing direct and immeidate changes to step towards the decriminalisation of pot. He said without doing it, crime and corruption would contineu to flourish in Qld.

 

I don't want to get a bullet in me, but it's barely secret what gpoes on up here, and succesive governments, regardless of promising this and that to our drug laws, do nothing but increase the penalties, maintaining tremendous profits for people who have commerical interests in the game.

 

Don't you find it interesting that the commercial end of this game is rarely on tv busted? I mean periodically some characters with big intentions get busted, but I'm meaning organised criminals...when do you see them on the evening news? Or don't they exist in Australia?

 

I'm not saying any more, I'm no Donald Mackay.

 

cheers

rob

[styx]

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

That's where the queen of the local bugs roots, and what we need to shake first on the global decriminalization movement for our local successes.

 

Reconsider the convention!

[Bubble Bags Australia]

The best way to legalize it or at least work towards legalizing it in a way that will make a difference is that there needs to be serious people, who wear suits, who are intelligent acting and speaking, who are skilled, trained and knowledgeable in both sides of the argument for and against cannabis, who can speak and debate with skill and appear presentable to the public and to politicians.

 

I know I repeated a few things there, but that seriously is what needs to be done, this is the exact reason that so much progress was made in Vancouver by the BCMP, because they had Marc Emery who almost always wore a suit, he was the guy who looked good and presentable on camera and in the court hearings. Michelle Rainey always dressed business like and professional and looked really good. Sure a lot of work was also done by the "hippy", "freaky" looking activists behind the scenes, so they deserve credit. But the fact is the laws are made and decided by the straight and square and boring looking people of this country and they are not going to listen to a bunch of people who look like people do when they are at mardigrass in Nimbin. People who look like this will not be taken seriously or even listened too... It's sad to say it, but this is a case where a book is judged by it's cover and you have to play the game.

 

I am new to this country, I have been to 3 mardigrass and met a few people involved in the cannabis political scene, most of them have that old hippie look, but most likely I have not met everyone involved. Does Australia have it's version of Marc and Michelle ? People that are professional looking, sounding and acting ?

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

Don't forget to add to that list of straight arrow looking people with what sound to be great incomes and much to loose, they have to be prepared to lay it all on the line to be lost.

 

Like those you mention in your post, there was too a man in Michigan who is a school teacher, and professional (previous milittary and other gov services), very well educated, well presented, a pillar in his community and was charged and busted for the very smallest tail end of a rollie that was descibed in court as "may or may not have been marijuana" as the sample was too small and too old and deteriated to test.

 

He lost everything. The fact they led sniffer dogs around his car at work every day (a school), until one day a cop "claimed" the dog alerted to his vehicle. All he knows is when he heard the public adress calling him to the car park he thought his car had been stolen, and instead found it being torn apart by cops. He was in the fore-front of the michigan petition to have a ballot for consideration on the next vote to consider medical use of pot. Three years they knocked them down with last minute hurdles they could not make, even though these last minute hurdles were not law, and made up on the spot,. Finally they got the petiton in order, cost them shit loads of money to make it, and then the cops hit him. The rollie left over was so old it was found under his carpet matting on tjhe passenger side of his car. Being in a school ground, if convicted was looking at amax term of double digit figures n jail. He stood his ground I'm amazed to say, and last I was speaking with Greg, was arranging to sell everything he'd lived and worked for to leave the country of his birth, to Australia or New Zealand perhaps...He mayhave stayed too, I've lost touch, but he did stand his ground and won national support, but part of the bargain deal to stay out of jail for this incredeible bullshit small sample (which never was proven to be pot), he had to give up his income, the right to teach, surerender his lisence..

 

Do we have well paid people in Austrlaia that meet this criteria? We have a doctor (who's name eludes me) or two, one who gets himself busted with large amounts of hemp plants periodically to raise awareness, because that's the only way papers and Tv here will pick up on a drug story.

 

In Australia it's illegal for news print and media in general to promote the use of a drug, promote anything positive about pot or any drug at all in this country and depending on the mood of the people who make the warrants, they can charge those who do so. Having said so, the Sydney Herald courageously makes an editorial periodically to side with drug law reform, although rather vauige...done that a hand fullof tims in 20 years now I know of.

Add to that , unlike USA, where I gather the cops hound anyone with drugs, in Austrlaia, professional types are very rarely likley to be busted for anything like drugs.

 

seems we have not that many, that is not that many at least, who can break the laws banning promoting an illegal substance, and be heard- without risking all they have worked for for a simple article or similar.

 

I agee whole-heartedly about what is needed, but don't underestimate what the Nimbin boys do becuase they are the way they are. I've voiced myself here lots as you have, I get even angry with the Nimbin guys at times, so don't get me wrong, I see ya point. But I've lived down that way off and on since I was a kid, and for the most part they are the way they are for real and if they do what they can looking the way they do, then what can ya say? Stop?

 

USA and Canada get a whole lot of "politics" going in their fight against drug laws, that is to say they shit-fight within the upper echelon of the protest movement to be the one who leads the parade, who stands in court, who writes the articles...etc...

In Australia, with laws designed to arrest anyone who does such things, it works the other way around.Un-intentionally, those who have least to loose fight to be in front, while those who (unlike USA and Canada) have no legal right to speach, stay very quiet and well protected by status. We have no "rights" as such as legally allowed citizens of nth America. We have no automatic right to write books, articles and such , in th ename of "education", "general interest" or any of the many ways Nth Americans have been lucky to use to be the real spearhead they use. Don't under-estimate the value of being allowed to say such things without arrest, without it, those who have so much to loose in Nth America would never have stood up and opened their mouths, as you might find happens here.

 

An example of all this was a griup of activists in Nth Qld who quietly, but effectively busied along their way to drug law reform. the Cairns based detetives raided their homes many times and found nothing.

this was around 1995, when suddenly we had laws passed that banned the mere possesion of drug promoting literature as criminal.

The head honcho cop in Qld went on Tv and radio quietening everyone's fears , saying "oh no, no no...don't worry, this will only be used to stop the distribution of material used to promote the manufacture of speed, home bake heroin etc" and went on his way scaring every person to death about how little johnny was going to be found dead under his kitchen table when mum and dad found he'd accidently fucked himself up with a booklet some depraved mind handed out to little school children at the gate at knock off time..."..He expressly said it would not be used to harrass anyone with simple grass books. He said this at least on National radio in the JJJ telephone interview as Isiad, in about '95, and again I believe on radio national . The day after the law passed (which passed unoposed as we have no upper house in qld), the entire gang of activists were arrested in their private homes for owning librarys containing the likes of high times. 2 year suspended sentences Igather they got after a lot of money was spent defending them. So any further charge, it's 2 years in nick. No wonder they went quiet. For magazines in the house!

 

Without specific laws defending freedom of speach, you get slam dunked pretty quick around here. Why the Nimbin guys get away with what they do is because the arresting and jailing of them would be counteproductive, such as the arrest and jailing of them would make more news than ignoring them does, and so politically, they let sleeping dogs lie.

 

 

take care

rob

 

PS Re the "Single Treaty of NArcotics". Is this the law which the UN uses each year to ban a whole new list of herbs? I'm qurious how they do it. Remember the guy in Muwullimbah who ran a tea shop? Who had a large variety of teas from around the world, some of which were believed to be medicinal. He had one tea there which he sold as a hebal remedy for asthma. Several ladies in town brought their children to him for the tea, and some say their kids gave up Ventolin, a drug which can and does kill a few people every year (more than a few I believe, but luckily not as many as Asthma does).

Anyway, the tea shop bloke comes to open the shop one Monday morning and finds the police tearing all he owns out and carrying it away as evidence against him.

The tea he had been selling had been banned virtually overnight by the Un group who decides these things, along with about ten other herbs. The one in question has infintisimile amounts of naturally occuring ephedrine in it-hence the ban. Commentators at the time suggested it was impossible to drink enough tead to get a real buzz of any kind, more likely in one feeling sick rather than high from the large quantity needed.

At the time Glaxo Smith and (clyne?) were releasing a new asthma medicine in Australia costing them tens of millions to research, some say there was a connection.

But still, I believe the Un bans a whole new list of herbs every year (for whatever reason, or kickback), is this the law they use?

 

thanks

rob