NL: Can you just give a recap of Stage 1 for us, it’s all about home grow and possession isn’t it.

CE: That’s right, legalising home grow and personal possession is the first step of our three-stage approach. This law will allow people to grow up to six plants at home. It will also allow people to possess up to 50 grams in public and, importantly, it will allow people to share their cannabis and for carers to grow for the people they are looking after.

NL: Okay, so tomorrow is a big day for Stage 1, but what does it all mean?

CE: Back in June, we introduced the Regulation of Personal Use Bills. We are now at what is known as the Second Reading stage. This is where the actual content of the law that we are proposing is considered by parliament. It’s been a pretty intense few months where our MP’s and advisers have been working with the parliament’s lawyers who are responsible for drafting laws.

NL: So we’ve modelled Stage 1 on the ACT experience, yes? Why did you just give carers and sharing a special mention?

CE: Yes we have used the ACT as a model for this legislation. It is a good starting point if for no other reason than to show politicians outside of Canberra that we aren’t demanding some foreign system – simply one that is already in place in Australia. However there are anomalies in the ACT that we are fixing in Stage 1. In the ACT it’s legal to home grow, but there is no legal way to access seeds for example. It’s also illegal to give cannabis or seeds to friends in Canberra, and people growing on behalf of patients are at risk of prosecution. Our Stage 1 bill fixes these issues for New South Wales and Victoria.

NL: Okay. So, I’m obviously biased, but it doesn’t sound a big stretch for New South Wales and Victoria to look at the ACT and realise the sky hasn’t fallen in. It hasn’t affected Canberra’s ability to run the country.

CE: It hasn’t and it’s time for politicians to drop the double standards. The public has been constantly told by government ministers to “listen to the experts” including during covid. This is especially the case in Victoria where Labor was in government at that time. It’s time for those same government ministers to “listen to the experts” about cannabis – and those experts agree that the ‘war on cannabis’ has failed. It’s the 21^st Century and in many places around the world cannabis is now legal so we can see that all the hysteria about “reefer madness” was just that – hysteria and anti-cannabis propaganda. We now have the data from the ACT and overseas that proves that legalising personal possession is fine.

NL: I want to ask about the people who would utilise the laws this bill would create. Carers looking after the infirmed, pensioners etc. Labor would usually expect these people to be their voters yes? And both the Victorian and New South Wales Governments are currently Labor. Isn’t this sort of stuff in Labor’s wheelhouse, even if unofficially?

CE: That’s the irony right. Many political observers would say that cannabis prohibition hurts people who they would normally expect to be Labor voters. The voters of Toorak or Mosman probably aren’t that fussed about prohibition. It’s the tradies and workers who want to relax with a joint or two after a hard days work; it’s the people who are doing it tough and the disability pensioners who suffer because cannabis is illegal. We hope that the Labor Governments in both NSW and Victoria finally wake up and realise it’s their voters who want the laws changed. We expect Labor in NSW and Victoria to work with us to get this across the line.

NL: So I’m thinking about the home grow aspect of the bill – and the cohorts that would make use of the bill – with respect to the cost of living crisis we’re going through at the moment. Surely freeing up access to cannabis, both medicinally and as a de-stresser, should resonate with MP’s whose electorates are up to their eyeballs dealing with the cost of living?

CE: You would hope so wouldn’t you. It’s something we point out to Labor MPs at every opportunity. There are tens of thousands of people accessing medicinal cannabis through the so-called “legal route”, but it is expensive and the red tape is ridiculous when they could be growing their own. A huge number of people who want to use cannabis are still accessing it through the illicit market because that’s the only way they can afford it. Our bill will go a long way towards fixing this situation, and spell an end to the era of making criminals out of ordinary Australians.

NL: So the Bill is founded on solid science, a growing acceptance by the electorate and lived examples both in Australia and overseas. So what are the possible outcomes here? I assume if things go splendidly that the Governments of the day (in both cases here it’s Labor) will take up our cause and champion the bill (or one based strongly on ours) through both houses. But what if the answer is a ‘no’? What other options does the party have beyond an unsuccessful second reading? Do any options exist?

CE: Obviously we want the Government to support our Bill and we are focused on that. Victoria has already had a comprehensive inquiry into cannabis so there really is no reason for Victoria to delay any longer. We need to end cannabis prohibition not just in NSW, Victoria and in WA where we have MP’s but we need all governments to get on with it and this includes Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. I will add though that we have a Federal election just around the corner and what happens at the state level tomorrow and over the coming months will have a big influence on how we run our Federal campaign.

NL: So what can we do for jurisdictions like South Australia, Queensland and Tassie  where we don’t have sitting members? I noticed in the Essential research in August that South Australia topped all states with a 57% support for the legalisation of cannabis. I know the sample size was pretty small, but still, 57% and where there’s smoke there’s gotta be some fire at least?

CE: My prediction is that as soon as one state legalises the other states will follow – regardless of whether there are Legalise Cannabis MPs there or not. The other thing is that as long as we keep up the momentum politicians from all persuasions and all states are taking notice. I predict a strong showing at the next Federal election and Queensland has a state election next year as well. My bet is that we will perform well at both.