Marijuana Decriminalized!

[RaZoR_2004]

Australia: Cannabis laws state by state. Decriminalized in Western Australia & South Australia. Tasmania, Victoria, & Queensland

 

Western Australia Decriminalizes Marijuana Possession, Approves Heroin Trials, Rejects Safe Injecting Rooms 11/30/01

The Labor government of Western Australia Premier Geoff Gallop announced a sea change in the state's approach to drugs this week. Delivering its long-awaited response to the state's Community Drug Summit held in August, the government announced it was accepting 44 out of 45 recommendations, including the decriminalization of possession and consumption of small amounts of marijuana and prescription heroin trials. The drug summit had been a key election pledge of the Gallop government.

 

The government rejected a recommendation for safe injection rooms, arguing that the state did not have heroin users in sufficient concentrations to make the sites cost-effective. "Drug use is spread throughout the community," said Gallop. "We don't have the same extent of the problem that they get in Victoria and New South Wales," he explained.

 

And the heroin prescription trials will not happen as long as Prime Minister John Howard is around. He will be around for awhile. Howard, an avowed foe of such harm reduction measures, was elected to a new term earlier this month, running largely on an anti-immigrant platform.

 

"The fact of the matter is the federal government needs to give its endorsement and John Howard has made it clear he is not going to allow any heroin trials in Australia," said Gallop as he announced the new policies. "The notion of the heroin trials should be part of our armory, and we should keep it on the agenda, but the fact of the matter is we in Western Australia can't do it."

 

Under the state's new marijuana policy, people caught with up to two plants or less than 25 grams will face only civil penalties, such as fines, and will not enter the criminal justice system. Western Australia will join South Australia, which decriminalized in 1987, and Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland in the last four years have also instituted ticketing instead of arresting marijuana offenders caught with less than 50 grams.

 

The community drug summit recommendations also called for increased emphasis on prevention and treatment. The government responded with a 10% increase in the drug budget and the establishment of a new Drug and Alcohol Office within the state health department.

 

I also heard that it is legal to have 2 plants as long as they are for personal use. but fines can be handed out.

 

 

REFERENCES:

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_law.shtml

http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/21...australia.shtml

Edited February 13, 2004 by RaZoR_2004

[Maynard]

And the two plant cannot be grown in a hydro setup I dont think....Outdoor only? It's still awesome though West Australia is getting there...Keep going baby!

 

Maynard

[RaZoR_2004]

yea i thinks its outdoors only. but thats still good aye!

[FUCKOFFWANKERS]

Geoff Gallop came to "a place" for a meeting in perth to talk about this with us, too much info will lead to my identity

[Luke Skywalker]

Hey razor, was that all your own writing or was some of it taken from an article? If the latter please recognise those who wrote the original piece... and if the former, thanks for writing such an informative piece....

 

WA is at last starting to reform it's cannabis policies, and hopefully the medicinal and Hemp laws allowing for cultivation of fibre/seed crops and use in medicinal applications will be soon behind...

 

That drug summit was a loooooong time ago tho, and most of the recommendations are still waiting to be implemented. That's the thing, as you said, as long as Johnny is in the driver's seat, we won't get change. I wouldn't be betting that Mark Latham will be any better for the growers/users of this country, there are lots of interests on both sides of politics which would prefer to see Cannabis sativa (L.) remain a stigmatised and black market drug/medicine/alternative cellulose or fibre source.

 

I would encourage everyone to write to their local parliamentarians, state and federal, and let them know the realities behind the drug trade and cannabis prohibition in general. LTE's are great too, the more letters and publicity for the cause we write and distribute to the population, the more active involvement in the movement against prohibition will be generated. So get out there and even if you don't want to write to people, just talk to your immediate friends and family about the subject. (Keeping growing under your hat of course, no-one knows, no-one can tell or be made to) Let everyone who talks with you about the subject come away thinking, "Well that's just stupid! Why is pot illegal then?" and opening q's in their mind.

 

The main reason we have prohibition in place and it's been maintained for so long is the fact that information is being censored and suppressed by both the government and some media interests. If we cannot be heard muttering to ourselves about how crappy it is, then perhaps we should shout.

[Guest Wilderbud]

Id like to see references to this. I had a look at http://law.gov.au but it doesnt have anything about prosecution AFAICT.

[pipeman]

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[99waystofuckyou]

It's a start I guess.

[Smokeonit678]

That is very nice to know and thankyou cat for the information.

 

Does anyone know how many seeds and what are the penalties if caught with them?

 

mellow down easy.

[Guest shadow]

They gotta prove they are cannabis seeds, to do that there needs to be a significant amount for testing. ive never heard anyone get done for seeds.