Many people in Australia believe that Cannabis law reform is (or should be) a federal issue. The ‘People of Australia’ petitioned the Federal Government in 2018 for a plebiscite to be held at the 2019 Federal Election, to gather public opinion on the question of legalising Cannabis. It was signed by 13,000 people in just one month. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt responded, stating clearly that:

“The (LNP) Government does not support legalising Cannabis for recreational use but notes that issues relating to prohibition legislation deregulation and decriminalisation of Cannabis are primarily the responsibilities of the states and territories”.

This left no doubt that we would need to attack this issue at a state level. In Queensland too much public money is being spent for too little return on failed drug policy. This is reflected in the Illicit Drug Data Report 2016/17 which states that nationally, consumer arrests continue to account for the greatest proportion of Cannabis arrests at 92%. Of that national total, Queensland consumers account for 29%. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), illicit drug offences remained the most common principle offence in 2017, eighteen for offenders in Queensland. More than one in four offenders proceeded against by police had a principal offence of illicit drug offences. The Legalise Cannabis Qld Party aims to turn that around.

Our History
The Legalise Cannabis Qld Party was born when a group of like minded people formed a Facebook group with the intention of standing as Independents in the October 2020 State Election with the view of working loosely together to push for Cannabis law reform in Queensland and share resources. They met in person on several occasions to discuss issues and policy. Then one person suggested maybe a political party would be a better way. With the blessing of the well established federal Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party and the Medical Cannabis Users Association of Australia (MCUA) members and associated networks, in mid June 2020 we called out for expressions of interest to form a steering committee. The call was answered and a motion was passed at a meeting to form a political party. An executive committee was elected and the call for members put out on social media.

We needed 500 members to complete the application to register the Party with the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) which needed to be submitted by 30th June 2020 to make registration possible before the State Election. The response was swift and overwhelming. In just a couple of weeks we had 605 members signed up, which enabled us to submit our application to become a registered political party in Queensland. The registration became official on the 8th of September.

The rate at which we grew Queensland membership of the Party alone, tells us that support in the community is high. The petition to the Queensland Government this year to legalise Cannabis tells the same story. This was the MOST SIGNED petition in Queensland in the past YEAR with 14,736 signatories. It was rejected by the Queensland Government. Our letters, emails and phone calls to both major parties also fall on deaf ears. It has left us with no choice but to try to get a voice on the cross-bench, with the view of putting forward a Private Members Bill.

The Legalise Cannabis Qld Party believes that Cannabis law reform does not have to be complicated and the ‘Grape Theory’ forms the basis of how we will go about making the necessary reforms at a State level.

The Grape Theory:
Treat Cannabis like grapes,
You can grow as many grapes as you want, no licence.
You can make as many of those grapes as you want into wine, no licence.
You can share that wine with your friends and family, no licence.
HOWEVER the moment you want to sell some of that wine you require a licence, and to show quality control and safety for human consumption, and you pay the appropriate fees.

Now that you have a REAL choice in Queensland please make sure you are enrolled to vote and your details are up to date!

Check your details here

https://check.aec.gov.au/

New enrolments here

https://www.aec.gov.au/enrol/