An upper house inquiry into the impact of the regulatory framework for cannabis in New South Wales will be held in Goonellabah on Tuesday, August 20. 

Despite Premier Chris Minns stating he will not, “break an election promise,” to change the laws around cannabis decriminalisation, Jeremy Buckingham, MLC and chair of the enquiry, is hopeful that the hearing will find in favour and change the legislation. 

Mr Buckingham states “We are looking at the laws that have that currently, and may in the future, regulate cannabis in this state. Cannabis has been an illicit substance for 100 years in New South Wales.”

314 submissions supporting a change in current legislation act as testimony in the hearing. 

(The members of the committee assessing cannabis reform) 

Mr Buckinghams says, “Those submissions are overwhelmingly in favour of some form of reform in this space, or in favour of legalisation. 

“There are a range of groups - trade unions, doctors, psychiatrists, the nurses and midwives association, plus Drug Law Reform experts, who are all overwhelmingly calling for the legalisation of cannabis in line with other jurisdictions.”

The inquiry will look at how cannabis affects life now, and “its impact socio-economically, its impact on the criminal justice system and its impact on particular communities, like First Nations, LGBTIQ plus and regional communities.”

It is important to Mr Buckingham that the hearing takes place in Lismore. “It's an area where statistics show people are more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system because of their use of cannabis. Cannabis use is higher.”

Mr Buckingham also refers to strong advocates in the region. “This issue has gone from nothing to real prominence, principally on the work of the people in the Northern Rivers. People like Michael Balderstone and the hemp embassy in Nimbin and David Heilpern (Dean of Law at SCU).

Mr Heilpern has seen first-hand how damaging the criminal aspect of cannabis affects everyone’s daily lives. “We have very high numbers of people being dealt for possession of cannabis. There are more possession of drug charges in New South Wales than there are breaches of AVO’s. 

“If you decriminalise cannabis and take it out of the criminal justice system, the biggest win is that police can then focus on things that people actually care about, which are things like domestic violence and sexual assault of children.”

Mr Buckingham has the same perspective, “Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Australia. 14% of Australians report using it. It's also the most expensive drug for us to police. It's costing us billions of dollars to deal with the courts and the criminal justice system in terms of incarceration. It's very expensive.”

Both Mr Heipern and Mr Buckingham look at the situation in Australia and overseas, and countries such as large parts of the United States, Canada, and a lot of Europe, which has at least decriminalised cannabis.

Speaking with Mr Heilpern in regards to medically prescribed cannabis and possession, he says, “That's the insanity of where we are. There's now a wide availability of cannabis by prescription.”

This brings about multiple issues with driving with cannabis in your system, which is also a criminal offence.

(A map done a couple of months ago to reflect the various cannabis legislation around the world. Image credit: Data Is Beautiful)

Mr Heilpern sees the decriminalisation or cannabis as the last big “unnecessary issue” causing lag in the police system.  

“When I first started in criminal practice (40 years ago), I represented people charged with homosexuality, that's now legal. Abortion, that's now legal. Book betting on football matches, blasphemy, and there's a whole range of prostitution that's now legal. 

“We've legalised all of these victimless crimes, except for possession of prohibited drugs. And it's absolutely ridiculous. 

“We used to have a whole squad called the Vice Squad, just tasked with policing prostitution, at least they're now able to do more useful things. Now we've got whole legions of police involved in the drug squad, and it's all completely unnecessary.”

Michael Balderstone considers the government's acquiescence to these changes as a matter of semantics. “They've lost the war. They just haven't quite admitted it to themselves.”

As an election promise, Premier Chris Minns has called for a drug summit that will run over four days in October and December later this year. Mr Buckingham says, “I hope that the inquiry and its findings and recommendations inform the drug summit.”

The hearing will be held at Invercauld House, Goonellabah, on Tuesday, August 20th. Members of the public are welcome to attend and witness the proceedings.