A new study by an Australian government agency sheds light on the fact that Aboriginal people in the country are treated quite differently from non-Aboriginal people when caught in the act of using cannabis by the police.
The research, released earlier this month by the New South Wales Bureau of Statistics and Criminal Research (BOCSAR), was based on “a dataset of 38,813 sightings involving 27,127 adult offenders prosecuted for an incident of consumption or possession of cannabis between January 2017 and February 2020”.
Among Indigenous cannabis offenders, only 11.7% received “warnings” from the police, compared to 43.9% of non-Indigenous offenders. The warning is the lightest of penalties and an alternative to prosecution, which is therefore more likely to be faced by Aboriginal Australians.
According ABC New England in Australia, the report found that only 39.5% of Aboriginal offenders eligible for a warning received one.
Cannabis is illegal in Australia. This study comes at a time when political efforts to legalize cannabis in the country are increasing.
The Greens, currently the minority party in Australia, are the main promoters of legalization. They announced last year that the party had received advice from a constitutional lawyer who believed parliament could override state laws and end weed prohibition.
The advice focused on “three Commonwealth powerhouses that would enable it to legalize and regulate the use of cannabis, the clearest route through part of section 51, which relates to copyrights, patents inventions and designs and models, and registered trademarks”.
Legalization could pay off big in Australia. A study published in May 2023 by the University of Western Australia suggests that legalization could generate $243.5 million a year in the first five years in Western Australia, an Australian state occupying the western 33% of the territory. Australian.
ABC Radio Perth reported at the time that the study, commissioned by the Legalize Cannabis WA Party“quantified the revenue the state could derive from cannabis legalization” and “considered data on the form and frequency of cannabis use, as well as the estimated cost of enforcing current laws that prohibit cannabis use”.
“We wanted to know the truth about this issue and we commissioned this study without expecting any particular outcome,” said party leader Brian Walker. Legalize Cannabis WA. “This is the first time anyone has shown their work and explained exactly how they arrived at their numbers. On the expense side, there are things like the police – who prosecute a cannabis-related offense – the courts and corrective services to handle that. In total, that’s about $100 million a year.”
