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Legal cannabis could increase the impact of chronic pain and ease pressure on the criminal justice system, an inquiry heard, but doctors criticized the proposal, saying it could also risk exacerbating self-medication.
MPs on Wednesday delved into Greens senator David Shoebridge’s bill, which would allow the possession of cannabis for personal use and create a national agency to register strains and regulate plant cultivation.
Young people, especially those from First Nations, were over-policed, as were poorer suburbs, said Greg Barns SC of the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
MPs on Wednesday delved into Greens senator David Shoebridge’s bill, which would allow the possession of cannabis for personal use and create a national agency to register strains and regulate plant cultivation.
Most cannabis charges brought to court were for small amounts for personal use, costing the system tens of millions of dollars a year, Barns said at an inquiry into the bill on Wednesday.
Just because people aren’t going to jail “doesn’t mean there isn’t a punitive effect,” as it still results in legal costs and people losing their jobs or not being able to get a job, he said.
Liberal senator Paul Scarr questioned whether there could be a rise in mental health problems, especially among young people, due to side effects such as anxiety, panic attacks, psychosis or long-term memory loss.
Inadequate mental health services could come under greater pressure if their use increased, he said.
But the answer was not criminalization, Barns said.
“People don’t go to mental health services, they don’t go to hospitals and one of the reasons they don’t is because they are afraid,” he said.
It also caused much less harm than alcohol, he added.
Cannabis dispensary owner Malini Sietaram criticized the laws for inhibiting access and the medical system for making prescriptions difficult to obtain and expensive to fill.
“We’re almost driving people into the parking lot to get it illegally,” he said.
The Australian Medical Association argued that legalizing cannabis across the board could lead to people self-medicating without presenting to medical professionals, leaving people “unsure of the impact on them individually”.
Legalization would lead to young people seeing cannabis “as safe and normal, rather than continuing to be an important psychoactive compound,” said Dr. Michael Bonning.
There has been an increase in reports of overdoses and toxicity by minors, said Professor Robyn Langham, chief medical adviser.
Senate investigation examines whether cannabis should be legalized for recreational use
Cannabis use far outweighed the risks and users overwhelmingly used it irregularly and in small quantities, said drug researcher Professor Nicole Lee.
Serious side effects in frequent users only happened in a small number of people and a well-regulated market, including dosage, could further reduce the risk, as black market additives and highly potent strains increase the harm, he said. .
Low taxes on regulated marijuana to undermine the black market and measures to reduce consumption among young people could also reduce the risks, said professor Jenny Williams.
There have been more than 600 adverse reports of medicinal cannabis products since 2016, with the most common being headaches, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness and drowsiness, said Nick Henderson of the Department of Health.
The investigation will be presented before May 31.