Under Amendment Law 2019, which takes effect on 31 January 2020, adults are allowed to grow a maximum of two cannabis plants and possess up to 50 grams of cannabis per person. A law passed this week, expected to take effect on 31 January 2020, would explicitly allow adults to grow two cannabis plants for themselves.
In addition, the new law would allow adults to possess up to 50 grams of marijuana for themselves or another person. Marijuana is Australia’s most popular illegal drug, and although it is still illegal at the federal level, states, territories and nations treat it differently.
The law amends existing ACT criminal offences so they no longer include possession or cultivation of small amounts of cannabis. Under current ACT law, possession of 50 grams or more could be fined at $8,000 and up to two years in jail, and would land you with a possible AU $160 fine.
Despite the law change in the ACT, the federal law will continue to criminalise cannabis in the nation’s capital. The ACT is now the only state in Australia with legalised cannabis for recreational use, but regulations can vary from state to state. Laws to legalise medical marijuana across Australia have been in place for several years, and despite changes to ACT law it is still not legal.
The global legal cannabis market is expected to double in the next five years and reach a value of about 146.4 billion dollars by 2025.
The Jamaican King Bong (Photo courtesy www.cloudychoices.com.au)
Sales growth is largely driven by the increasing use of cannabis – based medicines such as cannabis oil and cannabis extracts. Australia appears poised to follow the trend of increasing legalisation in countries that have legalised marijuana when medical marijuana becomes legal in Australia in 2016. The cannabis industry is currently gaining traction in an increasing number of countries around the world, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.
Marijuana has been illegal in Australia since 1928 and has remained largely the same since, with the exception of a small number of offences where offenders face fines and penalties for possession. There are no legal restrictions on the use of cannabis oil or cannabis extracts for medicinal purposes, and there is no prohibition on their use for recreational purposes.
With the passing of the Cannabis Regulation and the Cannabis Act 1996 (ACT) Canberra became the first city in Australia to legalise cannabis for personal use. The use and distribution of cannabis is prohibited under the Australian Criminal Code and the Australian Criminal Law Act 1998 (ACLA).
Canberra under-18’s will be allowed to possess 50g of cannabis and grow up to two plants, but households will only be allowed to have four plants in total and hydrogen cultivation will remain illegal, ABC reports. Australians are now able to possess up to fifty grams of cannabis and grow between two and two-and-a-half plants.
The new law, which was passed in the Australian Capital Territory in September, now comes into force in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.
Australia’s capital is the first part of the country to legalise cannabis for both personal and recreational use. Under the new law, which came into force on 31 January, adults in Canberra can take up to one gram of dried cannabis and grow two cannabis plants. The Australian capital territory allows people to possess fifty grams of cannabis and grow up to two plants at home for personal use and medicinal purposes.
On Wednesday, the Australian Capital Territory’s Legislative Assembly voted to legalise possession of the drug for personal use for the first time in the country’s history, according to The Canberra Times.
The opposition voted against the law, arguing that the change would encourage more people to use marijuana and lead to more drug use – induced psychosis.
In the 1920s and early 1930s cannabis was a legalised drug, but it was dangerous, so much so that the US government came up with the idea of banning the drug as a reason for doing so. Today, cannabis is one of the most illegal drugs used around the world, both illegal and legal. It is now legal in certain parts of Canada, where there is a “cannabis park” where people can smoke and relax with friends, and it has reduced the amount of cannabis smuggled in from other countries and states.
If legalised in Australia, will it stop people from smoking it illegally or being paranoid? Despite the fears, the sale of Australia cannabis smoking devices, and the hunt for the best Australian bongs, still remain a popular past-time for Australian recreational users.
