CANBERRA LIBERALS CANNABIS POLICY: MISSING IN ACTION

The legalisation of the personal possession of small quantities of cannabis in the ACT was an Australian-first, backed by the principles of harm minimisation and rooted in a strong evidence-base. ACT Labor members and the community had long advocated for this positive new chapter of drug law reform, and I was proud to bring forward this change on their behalf.

Unfortunately, these new laws were met with a conservative scare campaign, with the Canberra Liberals taking the low road and demonising people who use cannabis. In the lead up to the 2020 election, the Canberra Liberals said they would overturn our personal cannabis use laws if they won – thankfully, neither of those things happened.

Today I moved a motion in the ACT Legislative Assembly calling on all parties to publicly affirm their support for our personal cannabis use laws and rule out a politically motivated “review” or repeal of said laws.

Unfortunately, the Canberra Liberals obfuscated on their cannabis policy. Interestingly, despite their refusal to address cannabis, they repeated their commitment to recriminalising other drugs of dependence.

Why can’t the Canberra Liberals tell us what their cannabis policy is?