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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 11 Hansard (19 October) . . Page.. 3246 ..
MR RUGENDYKE (continuing):
carers in the community for these types of situations. These concerns have not been addressed in this document. These are complicated situations, but not uncommon. The number of babies born as drug addicts is increasing as society's tolerance of drugs is increasing.
My attitude to decriminalised cannabis laws has been clearly voiced. I am disappointed at the lack of attention paid to this in the drug strategy. Appendix 1 in the strategy, relating to alcohol and other drug-related harm, devotes two paragraphs to cannabis. The description of the drug is certainly not as strong as Mrs Carnell spoke about it in the Assembly, back in 1992 I think it was, when cannabis was decriminalised. (Extension of time granted) At the time, the Chief Minister said:
In summary, not only have members in support of this Bill underestimated the toxicity and the addictive properties of cannabis, they have also badly underestimated the signal that this will send out to encourage the use of cannabis, particularly among young people. The Liberal Party has not underestimated these effects.
Seven years later, Mrs Carnell and the Liberal Party have gone soft on cannabis. The Government tells us that the decriminalised cannabis laws are working. Well, they are clearly not.
In answer to a question on notice, Mr Humphries advised that 47 per cent of simple cannabis offence notices had not been paid since the decriminalisation of cannabis in 1992. Of the 1,275 on-the-spot fines for possession or cultivation of cannabis to 30 July this year, only 667 had been paid. The statistics are dismal and a clear indication that the system is not working. What is the point of issuing fines that are ignored? Almost half the fines have been ignored and this shows that the system is being treated with contempt by offenders. There is no consequence with this system and there is no education in the process.
The talk on the street is that only dumb offenders pay and this is reflected in these figures. When you do not pay, nothing happens. The simple cannabis offence notices system, SCONS, has to be scrapped. It serves no purpose and it is a worthless exercise. This system has never been reviewed and cannabis continues to be the ignored problem of our community. The Government's endorsement of a system where almost half the fines have gone unchecked just perpetuates the myth that cannabis is harmless.
There is also a perception that marijuana is legal. The only thing this impotent SCONS has achieved in practice is making cannabis quasi-legal. In the ministerial statement on the national approach to illicit drug use, Mr Moore tells us:
The Commonwealth, States and Territories have agreed to work together to better manage the issue of illicit drugs, and this means carefully drawn, explicit and practical links between education, law enforcement and treatment efforts at all levels of government and in the wider community.
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