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The South Australian government's plan to introduce tougher penalties for cannabis possession is based on a "nonsense" reasoning and flies in the face of a global movement toward decriminalization of the drug, have downplayed the experts. General, Vickie Chapman, has announced plans for a dramatic increase in sentences for possession of cannabis in the state, with fines to quadruple and jail time to present.
Chapman used a 2012 murder in which a 17-year-old teenager badigned Alcohol, Ecstasy and Cannabis killed a teenager as evidence of the need to introduce harsher penalties for cannabis.
Chapman stated that the crime had caused "everyone to sit down and reevaluate the importance of cannabis."
"This is a serious drug and those who have already said that it was a recreational drug, not much worse than tobacco, really these days are over" SA was the first state to decriminalize the minor offenses related to cannabis in 1987. The most severe penalty for possession of cannabis or use in the state is $ 500, but the most common fine is 125 $ to carry 25 grams. But the bill would see cannabis elevated to the status of "other controlled drugs" such as ecstasy and heroin, which means that the people who would own them would be liable to a fine. maximum of $ 2,000 and two years imprisonment.
This would also include harsher penalties for outlaw motorcycle gang members. A bikie caught in the supply or administration of a controlled drug would be liable to a fine of $ 75,000 and 15 years in prison.
Adults selling children or using them to commit drug-related crimes
Chapman seeks harsher sentences after coroner's inquest into the murder of 18-year-old Lewis McPherson in Adelaide in 2012.
McPherson was shot outside a New Year's party in Adelaide by 17-year-old Liam Humbles.
Described as "a complicated individual being paranoid, erratic, and angry," Humbles was separated from his parents and did not attend school or work. He also had a history of aggression.
Humbles, who was also a drug trafficker, had suffered five drug diversions related to drug possession, but had never been arrested.
The investigation revealed that on filming day, Humbles had consumed "significant amounts" of alcohol, taken ecstasy and smoked cannabis.
In his closing remarks, the Deputy Coroner, Anthony Schapel, recommended a limit on the number of diversions that a child might experience and requested an increase in the maximum fine for possession of cannabis.
Alex Wodak of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation Chapman's attempts to link the use of cannabis to murder were "absurd".
"Most people who smoke cannabis crawl in a corner and fall asleep or eat ice cream," he said. "They are not going to murder people, this is not the model." Tim Mellor, of the Law Society SA, warned that the government's bill reflected a lack of "evidence-based rationale" to increase drug penalties.
"In our opinion, the bill fails to recognize sufficiently that drug addiction is a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue," he wrote in a statement. memory to the government. "To" win the war on drugs ", the medical and social problems that underlie addiction must be solved."
When it pbaded, the SA bill would reverse three decades
When the government abolished criminal sanctions for possession in 1987, it caused similar changes in ACT and the Northern Territory.
1990s, a major study comparing the depenal cannabis use in South Africa to more punitive policies in Western Australia has revealed that harsher penalties have [traduction] "no effect on patterns of cannabis or other drug use"
. he concluded that those prosecuted for possession of cannabis in Washington State were "more likely to report relationship problems, problems of accommodation and increased involvement in the criminal justice system related to their first offense." minor linked to cannabis ".
A subsequent study in 2009 compared results for 68 people in both states and found that people sued for possession of cannabis in WA were more likely to have experienced long-term negative consequences.
In WA, 32% got into trouble with the legal system compared to none in SA, while 32% of WA people reported negative consequences on employment versus 2% in SA
Wodak said that the proposed law disagreed with international measures to remove criminal sanctions for the possession and use of cannabis.
Wodak stated that the policy change "goes against everything we know" about harm reduction related to drug use and warned that AS risked falling completely out of step with the rest of the world. The government of South Australia is right and the rest of the world is wrong, "said Wodak." What they are talking about is absolutely crazy. "
Nine states and Washington DC legalized marijuana for purposes in the United States, while 30 states have made marijuana use legal.
In June, Canada became the second largest recreational drug country after Uruguay, and the British Labor leader, Jeremy Corbyn, requested that cannabis be decriminalized for medical purposes "as quickly as possible".
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