Legalization of Marijuana in Australia: Benefits and Challenges

This article recommends legalizing marijuana in Australia for its medicinal benefits and as a source of revenue and jobs. It discusses the current laws and regulations related to marijuana in Australia and the challenges faced in its legalization. The article also highlights the benefits of legalizing marijuana for patients suffering from chronic pain and other diseases. The subject is marijuana legalization in Australia, and the course code and college/university are not mentioned.

Running head: LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
Legalization of marijuana in Australia
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LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
Minister Brief
Legalisation of marijuana in Australia
Purpose
The overall purpose of the minister brief is to recommend the minister for legalizing
marijuana in Australia as it has many medicinal benefits.
Background
1. Australians are one of the highest consumers of cannabis in the world. It was also
found out that around 300,000 people of Australia smoke marijuana on a daily basis.
2. The importation of cannabis was banned in 1926 by the Commonwealth Government.
In 1913, also Australia extended the importation controls and also signed the
International Hague Convention on Narcotics.
3. Australia has been the first country which have been colonized for the purpose of
growing cannabis (Alam, Anderson, and Deshpande 2018).. Marijuana was been
produced in Australia only for the commercial purpose as the plant is widely available
in Australia.
4. In Victoria, usage of cannabis is made legal from the year 2017 for children with
severe illness or epilepsy under the Access to Medicinal Cannabis Act, 2016 (Hall and
Weier 2015). Under the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Amendment Regulation,
2016 marijuana was made legal in New South Wales of Australia for adults suffering
from incurable diseases.
5. Australians aims to be one of the world’s top supplier of medicinal cannabis after
getting the green light for exports. The federal government of Australia in 2016
legalised access of patients to the manufactured medicinal cannabis. Victoria was the

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
first state in Australia to legalise the use of cannabis for the medicinal purpose which
was then followed by New South Wales.
6. Polls conducted by the Greens shows that large number of people in Tasmania
support the decriminalisation of recreational use marijuana in the state (Caldicott et
al. 2018). The decriminalisation of marijuana means removing any kind of criminal
penalties for possessing or using it. The decriminalisation of cannabis took place only
in the areas of South Australia, Australian Capital Territory and the Northern
Territory.
7. Medical marijuana states the usage of marijuana in order to treat disease or improve
the symptoms. Synthetic cannabis are also available as prescription drugs in many
places. The Washington State legislation and regulation are more specific than the
legislation of Colorado.
8. Majority of the people in Australia also favours legalization of marijuana. According
to the clinical date it can also improve the quality of the life of the patient. It can also
acts as a new source of revenue and jobs. Legalizing marijuana can also acts as a boon
for the boon for the economy and other states. According to a report released from
New Frontier Data, marijuana will create an estimated 283,422 jobs. Around $200
million tax revenue was collected in the year 2016 in Colorado.
9. There are also presence of several challenges such as regulatory barriers. People also
faces a lot of barriers while supplying cannabis. As in the United States cannabis used
for research purposes is only available through the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Drug supply program. Funding for the researches is another key barrier. Another
challenge is investing in the heath sectors.
10. The brief shows that marijuana has many medical benefits which can provide relieve
to the pain from any incurable disease. It recommends the Minister to legalize

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
marijuana in all the states of Australia. Marijuana can be used both for recreation and
for medicinal purposes.
11. Victoria was one of the first jurisdiction in Australia to legalize medicinal cannabis
pathways for patients in need. The government of the New South Wales proposed a
trial of the medical use of cannabis. It has been found out that around eighty five
percent of the Australians supports the legalization permitting the use of cannabis for
the purpose of medicine.
Issues
12. The Australian Drug Foundation supports researches based on medical marijuana
usage which states that diseases such as terminal illness, neurological disorders and
treatment related to chemotherapy have proven to be relieved by the use of medical
marijuana with a low dose of THC (Caldicott et al. 2018).
13. A study made in 2003 also showed that the presence of THC in marijuana can prevent
the disease of epileptic seizures (Birdsall, Birdsall and Tims 2016). It is also known
to have slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s. A recent study published by the
Molecular Pharmaceutics showed that THC slows down the formation of amyloid
plaques.
14. Marijuana should be legalised in Australia as it can eliminate illegal trade and
associated crimes. The legalisation of marijuana can replace the black-market
distribution ad production. Taxing marijuana can also increase the revenue of the
government. By legalizing marijuana, the government will be able to earn huge
amount of revenue.
15. Legalizing marijuana can also create a lot of job opportunities. Legalization of
marijuana for recreational purpose along with the medicinal purpose has created
10,000 new jobs in Colorado (van Ours 2017).

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
16. It can be concluded from the research that marijuana has many medicinal benefits and
therefore the government should legalize it. Marijuana is fully legal currently in two
places, parts of the United States and Uruguay.
17. The government can buy it from the farmers and can sell only under the licensed
shop.
18. Marijuana has proven to have an analgesic property which can be used in pain relief
from a variety of conditions ranging from pains causing from cancer and from
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It has also been proved to be a very
good pain relief when it is compared to opioids. A research based in the United
Kingdom shows that a THC: CBD mixture can be used as a relief from the advanced
cancer pain. Therefore, legalizing marijuana can improve the quality of lives of many
patients suffering from different pain.
19. It has also been proven that the presence of THC in marijuana have a stimulating
effect on the appetite and can also lead to an increase food intake (Alam, Anderson,
and Deshpande 2018). Presence of large number of clinical applications of the THC is
used for appetite stimulating .nds Cachexia can also be cured with THC which will
stimulate the patient’s appetite.
20. In countries like Canada and USA nabilone have been used for the treatment of
chemotherapy induced vomiting and nausea. Medical cannabis therefore can improve
the quality for the patient and their family by reducing the painful symptoms from
chemotherapy. Therefore, cannabis is proved to be highly effective for the cancer
patients.
21. The scheduling of drug in Australia is one of the major state issue and marijuana is
the Schedule nine drug in all the Australian states along with the territories.. United
States suggested that legalising marijuana can earn about $18billion every year ( Hill

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
2015). The gains can come from the tax revenues on selling pots. Since prohibiting
the usage of marijuana will not stop people from smoking dope, the government can
make huge amount of money out of it. Colorado is known to have raked in more than
$5million in the first week after legalizing marijuana. Legalizing marijuana can also
be quite beneficial to the economies of the producing countries.
22. Cannabis has also proved to lessen a range of symptoms associated with many
neurological conditions (Kramer, 2015). It was also found out in Canada that cannabis
was much superior to placebo in order to reduce pain and splasticity.
23. Investors can earn huge benefits from the long-term growth of the pot industry.
Therefore, investing in the cannabis industry can provide long term benefits to the
investors (Hill 2015). One of the latest states to legalize marijuana for the purpose of
recreation is California. The market for medical marijuana alone was worth of $4.7
billion in the year 2016. With promising revenue and product offerings the marijuana
industry has become an attractive opportunity for the investors.
The changes which can be implemented include the following:
 Legalisation of marijuana can be done as the same is definitely expected to
provide huge benefits for the people of Australia. As it can be seen that
marijuana has huge medicinal benefits in reducing pain and providing relief
for incurable diseases.
 Regulation of marijuana will also decrease some of the cost of customs, courts
and prisons. Legalizing cannabis means the law enforcement can concentrate
on far more serious crimes.
 Control and supervision need to be implemented in case of legalization of
marijuana as uncontrolled consumption of the same can have many pros and
cons. It may cause social anxiety disorders, paranoia, damage of heart and

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
lungs and can also lower the level of testosterone along with causing
irregularities in appetite.
24. It is recommended that the minister should therefore, regulate and tax cannabis
instead of prohibiting the use of it. Cannabis arrests in Australia have been the largest
proportion of illicit drug arrests in the year 2015 (Homel and Brown 2017). The
maximum people who were arrested were the providers of marijuana. The tax revenue
from cannabis can be used for funding treatment. Australia could allocate those funds
in order to improve and expand drug and alcohol prevention treatment. California for
example is using the revenue of the tax in order to rejuvenate areas which are badly
affected from war.
Recommendations
1. As it has been noticed that cannabis can offer exciting possibilities for those patients
affected with HIV, MS, cancer and other types of chronic pain. Therefore, the
minister should approve the legislation of marijuana in Australia.
2. The government should also start medical marijuana programs in order to educate
others with the positive impacts of this drug and how it can save the lives of
thousands of patients and families.
3. The minister can also tax marijuana as it will increase its revenue and the amount can
then be used for the welfare of the country.
4. The government should approve the legalisation of marijuana and include the above
changes.

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA
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