Greens leader Richard Di Natale wants to legalise cannabis, declaring “the war on drugs has failed”.
Speaking on The Project on Monday night, Senator Di Natale said the country’s approach to drugs has been an “unmitigated disaster”.
“We need to get real about cannabis,” he said. “The war on drugs has failed. Governments around the world are realising that prohibition of cannabis causes more harm than it prevents. It’s time Australia joined them and legalised cannabis for adult use.”
As part of the plan, the Greens would establish a new agency to issue licenses, monitor and enforce conditions and oversee regulations. The agency would purchase cannabis from producers and then sell “plain packaged product to retail stores to ensure quality and consistency” he said.
Adults would be allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants for personal use. Under the plan, there would be strict penalties for people caught selling cannabis to minors.
Senator Di Natale said almost seven million Australians had tried or used cannabis, with consumption and drug possession-related arrests both on the rise.
“As someone who was a drug and alcohol doctor, I’ve seen how damaging the tough on drugs approach is to people,” Senator Di Natale said.
“That choice can land them with a criminal conviction, which can impact their opportunity to get an job.”
Di Natale took to Twitter to share his plans, saying “This is a major step forward for drug law reform in Australia”.
It’s one of a number of recent Greens policy announcements that captured public debate. New South Wales Greens MP David Shoebridge recently announced a state policy manifesto that included the introduction of a tax of up to 10 per cent on the total wealth of Aussie billionaires in order to raise more money for public services.
Shoebridge would also like free housing, transport, higher education and childcare to be available to all Australians who needed them, as well as a renationalisation of the energy grid, a drop in the voting age to 16, and the creation of a new public bank to break the monopoly currently enjoyed by the Big Four banks.
Shoebridge’s manifesto came after Di Natale called for a universal basic income (UBI) be made available to all Australians, no matter what their employment status, to ensure that every person had a safety net. The UBI would replace the existing welfare system, under his proposal, which Di Natale said “can’t properly support those experiencing underemployment, insecure work and uncertain hours”.
He said the UBI would ensure that all Australians had access to an adequate level of income, social services, healthcare, education and housing.