MEDIA RELEASE Oct 28 2020…HEMP recommends Legalise Cannabis Queensland to voters for compassion & common-sense
A Joint Press Release from Legalise Cannabis Queensland (LCQ) and Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP): two political parties speaking on behalf of the many thousands of people who are daily impacted by the brutal, irrational and unjust war on cannabis users.
“Global attitudes to cannabis use are changing fast as people recognise we have banned one of the Earths most useful plants. And one of the safest medicines in nature. No one has died from using pot in ten thousand years of use, it just cannot kill you.” So says Michael Balderstone president of the Australian HEMP party sitting alongside Deb Lynch, vice president of the newly formed LCQ party.
“It’s a fantastic effort from a small bunch of dedicated locals to get the LCQ party registered giving Queenslanders an opportunity to make a mark for cannabis law reform in the anonymity of the polling booth. So no chance of losing your job!”
“There are 23 LCQ candidates running across the state and I applaud their courage,” says Michael. “The appalling stigma still shadowing cannabis users reminds me of the BLM protests. Prohibition is rooted in racism and our jail figures reflect it like in America. This issue will not go away while we continue the war on drugs. And who is left disagreeing drug use is a health issue? The people know it, the politicians just need to act and stop listening to vested interests like Big Pharma and the police.”
“I urge Queenslanders not to miss this opportunity to make a mark for cannabis law reform.”
“The cannabis laws in Queensland are arcane, unjust and unpopular,” says Ms Lynch. “The vast majority of Queenslanders want to see cannabis made available for people who need it for a medical reason. The majority also want to see the use and supply of cannabis for recreational purposes decriminalised and regulated. Just like it is in Canada and most of the USA. Just as it is about to become in New Zealand.”
However, what has been the response of the Queensland government? The aspirations of the population at large have been utterly ignored. Both of the major parties in the state have forever doubled down on the ‘drug war’ against cannabis. Instead of responding to the wishes of the population at large, incrementally, the penalties attaching to the cultivation and supply of cannabis in Queensland have been gradually increased until they are now comparable, or even more severe, than those that attach to crimes such as murder or manslaughter.
Many people may respond by commenting that these drug laws are simply a hangover from the distant past; that these various laws are simply an echo of the ‘drug wars’ of the last century. Yet this is simply not the case. The requirement that a minimum mandatory sentence be handed out to a cannabis trafficker is a result of changes that were made by the Labor Government only four years ago. The ‘drug war’ is not a distant memory in Queensland: it is still raging.
Every year in Queensland hundreds of people are sent to jail for doing nothing more than smoking and growing a bit of choof. They are being punished and their lives and livelihoods are being destroyed, because the politicians in Queensland remain wedded to the lie that cannabis is a ‘dangerous narcotic’. That cannabis is so dangerous that Queenslanders need to be protected from its harmful effects. Which everyone, even the politicians, know is simply a farcical notion
Legalise Cannabis Queensland [LCQ] is a political party that has been formed to give a voice to the many thousands of people who are daily impacted upon by the brutal, irrational and unjust war on cannabis users. LCQ has been formed to demonstrate to the politicians in Queensland that they can no longer ignore the will or the voice of the majority of their fellow citizens.
It is time to end the war against cannabis users. It is time to remove cannabis from the criminal law and to regulate it’s production and distribution like we do with any other therapeutic or recreational agent.
Many other jurisdictions across the globe have entirely removed the criminal sanctions associated with cannabis and the results have been uniformly positive. It is not an overly complex thing to do, nor does the regulation of the cannabis marketplace present any particularly novel difficulties as soon as the ‘drug war’ rhetoric has been set aside. Cannabis is far less hazardous than aspirin or paracetamol and demonstrably less toxic than tobacco and alcohol, so, as soon as we get beyond the ‘moral panic’ and simply dismiss the silly lie that cannabis is a ‘dangerous narcotic’, it is a relatively easy process to simply regulate the production and distribution of cannabis.
The vast majority of the population of Queensland see every cent that is spent on the war on cannabis users as wasted money. They perceive the people who are being arrested, fined and gaoled for cannabis offences as being victims of unjust laws; not as miscreants. LCQ has been organised to help Australia catch up with the rest of the enlightened western world and begin to dismantle the crazy war on cannabis users that persists in this state.
This brutal, irrational and unjust war on cannabis users must cease. Legalise Cannabis Queensland stands with the majority of the population of the state, on the right side of history. Cannabis must be legalised, regulated and taxed like any other product. Every minute that we needlessly tarry yet another poor Aussie is having their lives ripped to shreds for no discernible social, personal or medical benefit.
For more info go to legalisecannabisqld.org.au or contact Deb Lynch directly on 0401979092