1 May 2022
Loren W
- First, look at what parties have DONE not what just they say… WHY ?
- ONLY Labor has legalised Cannabis in any state / territory in Australia (ACT in 2020)
This is a bill that Greens shot down in a power play initially.
DONE not just said. And fiercely rejected by Libs of course. - As of 2022, 90% of ALL legal Cannabis for Medical use includes ZERO REAL
Cannabis and need not even come from a plant. Something Greens ignore but say they support “law reform”. This is addressed in the Labor NSW Cannabis Bill, greens have NOT supported, amended or offered an alternative for debate and a vote. (Done not just said)
- Greens have promised law reform almost every year but have NEVER even tabled their own Bill for a vote or amended and supported the Labor passable bill (by 51% remember) that was on the table in NSW. That is NOT supporting law reform, not to mention in NSW they do not offer enough votes / political collateral anyhow to support a bill by themselves, with so few seats.
- REMEMBER: To change the law, you have to pass a bill with 51% of the vote – Greens does NOT have any ‘political collateral’ to reach 51% other than to support / amend / a Bill by Labor, or introduce their own bill that could pass by 51% Which Greens have NOT.
- The NSW Labor Cannabis Bill for example removes the red tape for people to get REAL Cannabis for medicine for certain conditions and allows small business not just Trillion-dollar big pharma to be involved. The current Liberal model empowers the black market to remain illegal as it thrives and not supporting passable law reform.
- This is how the voting should look if supporting Cannabis Law reform.
But Labor has not talked Cannabis – It took me a while to understand this. Then as I was being part of amendments for the 1st 2016 Cannabis Bill and since looking at our neighbours in New Zealand as to why, speaking to MPs it all made sense as it does in 2022. To address this you need to look at when law reform has worked outside Australia and inside.
1996 – California legalised REAL Cannabis for medical use. The black market became the suppliers
and labs were set up to test for potency, cannabinoids in the Cannabis (THC over 10% per the UN 1961 acts on what is REAL Cannabis) pesticides, mould etc. with Cannabis dispensaries being the way forward globally.
2001 – Canada legalised Cannabis for medical use and Government suppliers and the black market were legal suppliers again.
2003 – Big Pharma got involved in introducing synthetic Cannabis, Bayer-Monsanto then became the R&D (research and development) and largest distributor of Cannabis in the world that does not include REAL Cannabis since, via a company called GW Pharma UK – They are still the largest supplier of Cannabis that does not include REAL Cannabis globally and that is 90% of all legal Cannabis in Australia.
2016 – Australia legalised “Cannabis” for medical use, but under Libs; re-defined they the word Cannabis first. REMEMBER: that Pharmaceuticals are one of the largest donors to Libs, and actually part of Government, they introduced fear factors so great, in the legal process and debates. As a result Cannabis with ZERO Cannabis inside was 99% of the market till 2020, as there were few imports and zero legal growing of even Government controlled Cannabis – now still 90% of ALL legal Cannabis need not include REAL Cannabis and 95% all LEGAL Cannabis is imported from big pharma.
2017 – In a landmark case the Australia hemp industry took out a legal challenge to the Federal Government disputing the redefining of hemp (that produces CBD) vs REAL Cannabis. They had to choose in that case to side with REAL Cannabis (saying hemp is this and Cannabis is that but supporting Cannabis also) or saying effectively Cannabis is evil we support Big pharma against REAL Cannabis and need to protect hemp. They sided with big pharma – but lost the case. This created a permanent divide in Australia, as the black market illegally now produces or imports REAL Cannabis and Hemp CBD so siding with big pharma and Government does NOT support passable law reform.
2020 – Australia is the largest producer of legal opiates for medical use in the world. “Tas Alk’ the largest and apolitical donor. The largest competitors for Tas Alk are synthetic opiates 1st, (like Subsys/Fentanyl) and REAL Cannabis. To combat this they also got involved in Medical Cannabis with Zero Cannabis inside vs REAL Cannabis.
What is Real Cannabis, vs Pharma or Medical Cannabis ? – Prior to 2003 the ONLY legal Cannabis was REAL Cannabis (defined by the UN as over 10% THC in 1961 (and with little to no CBD inside) both CBD and THC being two of over 120 cannabinoids, and over 400 other compounds that makes up Cannabis. CBD is either made synthetically, by GMO and / or only from Hemp – The hemp industry since 2014 outside of Australia and in 2017 in Australia have been part of big pharma vs REAL Cannabis that is separate to the trillion dollar Big pharma. Obviously products from real Cannabis do not have to have the Cannabis produced, or manufactured.
CBD (hemp) vs THC (Cannabis/Marijuana) – Modern day hemp looks like Cannabis but by definition has zero THC inside. Due to their similarity in appearance hemp was botanically designated as being “Cannabis Sativa’, a mistake botanists agreed later as a mistake. While Cannabis/marijuana (can be Cannabis Sativa or Cannabis Indica, Cannabis ruderalisa or a Hybrid) – Hemp usually has low CBD also – but can by Genetic Modification produce more CBD – or synthetically. This botanical mistake has been exploited since 2014, when the hemp industry was sued for pretending HEMP CBD from Cannabis Sativa Hemp was REAL Cannabis (with 10% or over THC) In the USA the FDA (Federal Drug administration continues to send warning letters on this and threatening to shut down hemp CBD companies that still try to confuse the public.
In Australia this is NOT the case and why 90% of Australians buying legal Cannabis has no REAL Cannabis inside in 2022.
What is passable Cannabis law reform ? A vote by 51% is the easy answer on a bill in the upper and lower house in any state (where they have 2 houses) if on a state by state basis, or Federally if so deemed – As of 2022, no state, or country in the world has legalised REAL Cannabis for recreational use BEFORE legalising it for medical use. This has been partly logistic, partly political and partly societal. That is doing it medically then recreationally as part of the model means you test with medical then review it for recreational use. Australia again under pressure from pharma and Government, refused to do that and why 90% of all legal Cannabis is still not REAL Cannabis/ Marijuana based. In the USA and Canada it is reversed with 95% of all legal cannabis for medical use being REAL Cannabis. Cannabis legalities are owned by the TGA and ODC (orifice / office of drug control / chaos) A mess of a process, but designed to prevent REAL Cannabis use for medical use and a “fear” of recreational use per them.
Legal Law Reform Chaos – A great example of the mess was in 2016, when during the discussion on law reform the government with AMA and others said “Cannabis causes cancer” not true obviously and when pressed it was form a fake anti-cannabis story) this was then treated as an “opinion” not a fact and when law reform debates happened that opinion was used as a fact in the case against law reform.
Government Paid for Fake anti-Cannabis Research – this story funded by Libs department of Health. Minister Ley at the time – Was then oddly contradicted by big pharma but was used as proof in debates on law reform.
If Labor gets elected what happens then ?- If bills were not done and tabled already everything could be speculative. However, the NSW Cannabis bill following on from Cannabis legalisation in ACT in Jan 2020 – means there is an initial path forward.
Summary – Labor has been loath to discuss Cannabis law reform as it is not an easy sound bite and Libs, pharma, black market, hemp industry, health, AMA all fund anti-Cannabis law reform globally by misinformation, Cannabis causes cancer, Cannabis causes gene mutations etc. The government in Australia, has gone to huge steps to prevent legalising REAL Cannabis in states where the Federal government (as in ACT) has threatened action.
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