My name is Craig Hill, and I’m proud to be standing as the Legalise Cannabis Party candidate for the federal seat of Bonner at the upcoming election.
Our party believes it’s time for honest, evidence-based policies that put people before politics. At the core of our platform is the legalisation and regulation of cannabis – not just for recreational and medicinal purposes, but also for the huge industrial and economic opportunities it presents.
Legalisation means safer communities, reduced strain on the justice system, better health outcomes, and the creation of new, sustainable industries and jobs. These include in biofuels, textiles and construction materials.
But that’s just the beginning. I’m committed to fighting for real investment in Bonner, something that has been missing in the past, including federal funding to assist the state government for:
- A hospital in Wynnum-Manly to meet the growing health needs of our community
- Improved primary and secondary school services in the district to give our kids the education they deserve
- Improved child-care and early education centres to accommodate the rising number of children requiring care and to alleviate pressure on existing facilities.
- New TAFE campuses located in or near Bonner to expand local skills training and job opportunities. These would potentially be at Wynnum-Manly, Carindale and Capalaba (in an adjoining electorate).
- A business advisory service and targeted federal funding for small to medium enterprises, the backbone of our economy
- Improved transport infrastructure, including upgrades to Wynnum Road and Old Cleveland Road, expansion of the M1, extension of the Cleveland rail line into Bonner, and construction of Bus Rapid Transport lanes.
- More pedestrian footpaths, walking tracks and cycleways.
- A vibrant entertainment precinct like South Bank – potentially located at Manly or Carindale – to create jobs, attract tourism, and offer families a space to enjoy life
- The construction of the 2032 Olympic Village in Bonner, given the large amount of Olympic events to be held in the electorate and our proximity to the two proposed sites for the main Olympic Stadium (Nathan and The Gabba). The village would house 16,000 athletes and would create 10-15,000 jobs. It could later provide affordable housing for 4-6,000 people.
To find out more, please visit my webpage.
Dear reader, we need your support
Independent sites such as The AIMN provide a platform for public interest journalists. From its humble beginning in January 2013, The AIMN has grown into one of the most trusted and popular independent media organisations.
One of the reasons we have succeeded has been due to the support we receive from our readers through their financial contributions.
With increasing costs to maintain The AIMN, we need this continued support.
Your donation – large or small – to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
How did this get on to the AIMN site ?
This promo seems to be encouraging people to take up smoking – not a good look !
Next will we be seeing a puff piece from Clive Palmer and his Flatulence Party ?
Terry, smoking is just one option.
Hi Terry,
99 times out of 100 I wouldn’t let these through, but as a person who has been prescribed medical marijuana I took a personal interest in this one.
PS: I don’t smoke it.
Plus I recalled that it’s a topic a lot of our readers have an interest in.
https://theaimn.com/cannabis-we-can-shut-up-toe-the-line-be-vilified-or-not-be-reported-at-all/
And this:
https://theaimn.com/forty-years-after-my-first-and-only-arrest-for-cannabis-not-much-has-changed/
Thanks Steve and Michael
We are talking about two different things .Medicinal cannabis, is legal in Australia if prescribed by a qualified healthcare professional. As you probably know, medical cannabis is used to help chronic pain, cancer symptoms and epilepsy and is available for oral consumption (oils, capsules), inhalation (vaporization), and potentially topical applications (patches, creams), as prescribed by a doctor. You must have a prescription from your doctor or be part of a medical trial to use medical cannabis.I have a friend who has terminal cancer and has been prescribed medicinal cannabis in tablet form for pain management together with other morphine based treatments.
Medical professionals would not normally support smoking cannabis due to the related health risks which can impact lung health, causing airway inflammation, chronic cough, and potentially increasing the risk of bronchitis and other respiratory problems including an increased risk of lung cancer.
I stand to be corrected but I think this political promo is about legalising the smoking of cannabis.
And…
https://theaimn.com/the-sickening-hypocrisy-of-our-cannabis-laws/
I understand your concern Terry.
Perhaps the current means of access to medical cannabis is not sufficient.
I know of a bloke that makes his own biscuits (for back pain) from street supplies, so I’m guessing the legal route was not sufficient for him.
Terry:
Legalising smoking cannabis is only a tiny part of what this is about, and it would still be subject to the same restrictions that smoking in general has. it’s hypocritical to say “you can legally smoke this if you follow these restrictions and pay heavy tax on the product, but you can’t smoke that”. As is pointed out in Craig’s article, there’s a great deal more to cannabis than the recreational side of it, and even the recreational use is not just smoking.
Alcohol and tobacco are legal drugs, albeit subject to limitations on their use, and each one causes far more damage to individuals and society than all the illegal drugs together. Prohibition doesnt work, we’ve seen that; it’s time to try different responses.
To clarify my situation, I tried taking the capsules but they were fairly unhelpful because they didn’t contain much of the pain relieving extract. You can’t get the “proper stuff” in Australia despite having a medical certificate. If it were legal my life may not be crippled due to nerve pain.
I tried smoking it but spent the next half hour coughing my lungs up. I sometimes wonder if there are many older Australians like myself with the same dilemma.
PS: Overseas I was able to buy the capsules over the counter. In Australia? Crickets.
I do see Terry’s point though about smoking dope, and I confess I overlooked that side of the story when I let this article go through. I was looking at the legalisation of marijuana through the lens of a medical user, and not a recreational user.
I have no interest in the recreational use.
leefe is right. Alcohol and combustible tobacco are more harmful to our health yet they are legal for adult consumption. My guess, regarding cigarettes, is that governments are addicted to tobacco tax.
And why do you think that Governments slap taxes and regulation on anything?
They don’t want competition!
Medical cannabis is also good to treat people with anxiety related issues, its a relaxant and given that its prescribed for wholistic use as well – yes not just psychiatrists but psychologists, homeopaths as well can make a huge difference so thererfore I agree with Craig’s point of view.
The dosage would be inconjunction with their current health issues and any other co-dependencies that are known or disclosed by the patient to the treating professional.
Mayo Clinics version of Medical Cannabis as follows:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/medical-marijuana/art-20137855
Talk of cannabis (and other certain substances) almost always reminds me of Gilbert Shelton’s comic character Freewheelin’ Franklin: “Marijuana is not a drug, it’s a plant. Therefore, I’m not a drug dealer, I’m a florist.” and “Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope.”
There are so many drugs, now illegal, which have been ‘legal’ in one form or another over time..CocaCola was originally a drink which had cocaine as an ingedient.
Opium was legal, and was a popular plant in English gardens, for the opium poppy the sap of which produced raw, unrefined opium.
The problem with unregulated use of drugs is that the therapeutic value is not the motivation for recreational use.
Having worked in an industry where heavy machinery is used, I would find it problematic to have a recreational drug user, whether it be of cannabis or any other drug working with such machinery. Or driving a motor vehicle on public roads.
It is for good reason that drugs need to be regulated, and for those who suffer pain or psychological need for treatment, in a controlled environment, with controlled dosages, the risks are minimised while the benefits are used.
Unrestricted use can lead, and does lead to irresponsible use. I have friends who are recreational users of cannabis, and they speak of the relaxing state they enjoy when ‘high’. Being that relaxed, is probably not a good state of mind to be in when a person needs top drive on a freeway or open highway at 100 kph.
A drug which is legal and freely available but is proven to be dangerous is alcohol.
I do not see any reason for adding other drugs to the freely available list.
Medicinal use where dosage and usage are controlled is another story.
just to be clear, medicinal cannabis is legal in Australia, but it can only be obtained through a prescription from a registered medical practitioner and with the necessary approvals from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).Medical cannabis products are not listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) so you pay full price (whatever that is)
GL do you remember the Bob Newhart sketch of Sir Walter Raleigh’s discovery of tobacco : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZllfPISDioI
The full price is excessive, prohibitive actually. And it only comes in weed form – which I don’t smoke.
It’s a dilemma: I don’t purchase it because it costs too much. If I could afford it I don’t want to smoke it.
Terry, true, medical cannabis is legal on prescription but drs are reluctant to recommend it. One anonymous complaint to AHPRA and the doctor = target.
I heard that Big Pharma reps are actually allergic to dope because it’s natural and therefore can’t be patented. Imagine if the pHarma criminals could claim they created THC and the hundreds of other compounds in the plants. Kaching $ $
Quick thought: Would the Reichspud recriminalise cannabis if, ugh, he got in?
Michael, you don’t have to smoke the weed, you can put it in baked goods.
Or so I’m told. 🙂
Steve, what a good idea.
Like all matters of controversy – politics, religion, sex – the question of drugs both ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ is bound to excite both the illuminated along with those who are somewhat more dense in relation to their knowledge of this topic.
Keeping in mind that a something only becomes illegal after a small group of legislators decides that it is so, it’s worthwhile to ponder on that fact that many of the materials found within the broad church of ‘drugs’ were in fact quite legal for much longer than their currently proscribed status. Cannabis, for instance, first appeared in a Chinese medicinal some several thousands of years ago, and has been used by mankind in various guises for at least that length of time in Asia and the Middle East, latterly appearing in the Western Hemisphere around two centuries ago. In the USA, cannabis use was tolerated until the end of prohibition saw the prohibitionist bureaucrat Harry Anslinger more or less out of a job until he turned his overzealous and racist attention to other targets, including cannabis and opium… he was also instrumental in successfully having the important commercial fibre hemp replaced by newly-developed synthetic fibres – an offshoot of the burgeoning oil industry.
I strongly disagree with the commenter who wrote that “…the therapeutic value is not the motivation for recreational use.” Splitting hairs, many users of drugs do so because of underlying issues, whether psychological, physical or both, and find it preferential to use these substances rather than what mainstream ‘conventional’ medicine would prescribe, viz., addictive and damaging drugs that mostly fail in their intended areas of use – witness the opiate epidemic in the States that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths due to the Sackler family’s unparalleled greed for profit over appropriate prescription. Why, one might ask, should therapy be restricted to a family of medicines when users can anecdotally attest to the efficacy of THC/CBD treatments, or in more severe situations, perhaps opiates. It’s worth noting that in England pharmaceutical diamorphine has been prescribed for over a century. It’s also worth noting that currently, here in Oz, the Tasmaniann government is unique in that it is not booking motorists who test positive to cannabis if they can demonstrate that they had it medically prescribed. Victoria is looking at this also. The same commenter also voiced his concern that people who drive stoned are potentially a risk on the road. Anecdotal evidence would demonstrate otherwise; there would be many thousands of Australian dope smokers who have driven regularly & repeatedly after or while smokng a joint, without issue or problem. Unsurprisingly, governments, collectively, prefer to focus on scare campaigns and demonisation rather than deal with the realities of preferential use of drugs. Many countries had decriminalized some or all drug use, Portugal being the standout example amongst a growing list, and with the so-called War on Drugs so clearly an outstanding failure at every level, even America has decriminalised cannabis use in many states.
For reasons obscure, politicians seem the last group to grasp the fact that the bipedal hominid known as Man has always had, and will continue to have, a deep propensity towards altering his state of consciousness, whether by mushrooms (psilocybin), cacti (mescaline), cannabis in its multiple forms (THC), ergot-derived derivatives (LSD), Banisteriopsis & Psychotria derived DMT (ayahuasca) along with a plethora of other sources given DMT is the most ubiquitous psychedelic found in the plant kingdom, as well as a raft of other materials lesser well-known.
Michael:
I have a mate who uses cannabis medically, via vaping (not much of an improvement on smoking, if any), for both pain and mental health issues. She’s on either DSP or the armed forces equivalent, and can manage the cost. Regular telehealth interviews with the prescribing doctor. Not sure how she sources it, though; possibly mail order.
Only other user I know (ex-user now; again, for mental health issues) got his on the street. Some types can be bought openly – even our small local general store sells the oil. Maybe it’s time for a little gardening … ?
In addition to Canguro’s fine contribution,
As usual the corrupt mercantilist political propagandists of America put paid to the most magnificent and sustainable hemp industry, not only in America, but by American coercion, worldwide, where predominantly it had been successfully farmed and used for thousands of years. All for the sake of troublesome cotton and oil-based synthetics.
The therapeutic, anti-nausea, anti-seizure and analgesic benefits of cannabinoids are manifest, with many known for thousands of years. Vertibrates (incl humans) have 100s of natural cannabinoid receptors throughout the body, esp the immune system, organs and central nervous system (incl the brain). Whilst cannabis sativa is the predominant source of cannabiboids, other plants have cannabinoid-like compounds; cacao, paracress (aka Jambú), liverworts, echinacea, black pepper, black truffle, kava, hops, and tea plants (Camellia Sinensis). So it would seem it’s not an accident or irony that has us with all our receptors.
I accompanied a business associate who was wanting to give up cocaine, to see one of Oz’ most senior toxicologists – he said to him “… most importantly, don’t feel guilty. Everyone takes drugs, and so do many animals.”
When we think of alcohol and opioids, they both have their clinical uses, but equally they can be very dangerous, and have caused many deaths and hugely more societal harm than cannabinoids. It is no small irony that in the ‘westernized’ world alcohol is legal, and opioids have been used as a weapon in the ‘Opium Wars’. And it’s no surprise given America’s brutality, that in America in particular, cocaine is rife, and for narcotic affect, the super-analgesics – heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone and etc.
During cancer onset and chemo, I was given opioids, without usage warnings, luckily I hated them. I had been in massive pain, until a friend availed me of medical grade liquid oral cannabis oil. It was brilliantly effective, only three drops under tongue, with no side-effects. My hematologist gave it the thumbs-up, but wouldn’t prescribe it due to the politics of the medical industry. It’s changed since then, but the prescribable product is very expensive.
Of course, smoking weed is ludicrous and dangerous – it has 4-5 times the tar of tobacco. The liquid wherewithal can be obtained by simple steam distillation and addition of minimal alcohol, or by boiled infusion into butter for edible purposes.
Interesting comment, Clakka, and informative.
Your bit about steam distillation marries up to what I heard from a doctor friend: the “safest” way to consume leaf or bud is via a dry herb vape; a method approved by the TGA. But these are no longer available due to vaping laws. A medical marijuana user might vape with it. Shock. Horror.