Legal cannabis could increase the impact of chronic pain and reduce pressure on the criminal justice system, a study found, but doctors weighed in on the proposal, saying it could also risk exacerbating self-medication.
MPs on Wednesday examined Greens Senator David Shoebridge’s bill, which would allow cannabis possession for personal use and set up a national agency to register species and regulate plant cultivation.
Young people, especially First Nations people, were being overburdened, as were poorer suburbs, said Greg Barns SC of the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
MPs on Wednesday examined Greens Senator David Shoebridge’s bill, which would allow cannabis possession for personal use and set up a national agency to register species and regulate plant cultivation.
Most cannabis charges in court involve small amounts for personal use, costing the system tens of millions of dollars a year, Barns told an inquiry into the bill on Wednesday.
The fact that people don’t go to jail “doesn’t mean there isn’t a punitive effect,” because it still leads to legal fees and people losing their jobs or being unable to find work, he said.
Liberal Senator Paul Scarr questioned whether there could be an increase 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 care could come under more pressure as its use increases, he argued.
But the answer wasn’t criminalization, Barns said.
“People don’t present to mental health services, they don’t present to hospitals and one of the reasons they don’t is because they’re scared,” he said.
It also caused much less harm than alcohol, he added.
Cannabis dispensary owner Malini Sietaram decried laws that hinder access and the medical system that makes prescriptions difficult to obtain and expensive to fill.
“We’re almost driving people into the parking lot to get it illegally,” she said.
The Australian Medical Association argued that legalizing cannabis across the board could lead to people self-medicating without reporting it to medical professionals, leaving people ‘unsure of the impact on them individually’.
Legalization would lead to young people seeing cannabis “as a safe and normal activity, rather than still being a major psychoactive substance,” said Dr Michael Bonning.
There were increasing reports of overdoses and toxicity by minors, said chief medical adviser Professor Robyn Langham.
A Senate inquiry is examining whether cannabis should be made legal for recreational use
Cannabis use far exceeded the risks, with users overwhelmingly using it irregularly and in small amounts, said drug researcher Professor Nicole Lee.
Serious side effects in frequent users only occurred in a small number of people and a well-regulated market, including dosing, could further reduce the risk with black market additives and highly potent strains that increase harm, she said.
Low taxes on regulated marijuana to undermine the black market and measures to reduce use among young people could also reduce the risks, said professor Jenny Williams.
There have been more than 600 negative 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 study will report no later than May 31.