
CJC  REPORT  SAYS  YES  TO  THE  JOKE         -by   Tony   Kneipp
-------------------------------         Brisbane HEMP

FITZGERALD FAILS

On Wednesday 13th July the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission
released  its  long  awaited  "Report  On Cannabis And The Law In
Queensland". This report represents one of the  final  stages  in
the  general  review  of the criminal law that was recommended by
the Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry.

With this report the Fitzgerald process is now effectively  over.
As a reform process it can be seen to have failed.

"DECRIMINALISATION PAST ITS USE-BY DATE"

The report  recommends  a  number  of  reforms  with  respect  to
possession  and  cultivation  of small amounts, but the author of
the report, Dr David Brereton, and  the  head  of  the  CJC,  Rob
O'Regan  QC,  made  it  clear  at the media conference that these
reforms in no way represented  some  kind  of  decriminalisation.
Brereton  said  he  thought that decriminalisation was a confused
term that had passed its use-by date; something was either  legal
or illegal.

The report recommended making a simple offence of

(a) possession of 100 grams of marijuana or  20  grams  of  hash;
maximum penalty six months jail and or $1500 fine.

(b) cultivation of not more than 10 plants; maximum  penalty  two
years jail and or $6000 fine.

For first offenders it recommended that there  be  no  conviction
and a maximum $500 fine.

It also recommended removing the offence of using implements such
as  bongs,  and  recommended  limiting  search  powers  without a
warrant for investigation of these simple offences.

THE REFORMS THAT GIVE US NOTHING

There had been some suggestions in the main stream media that the
report  would recommend a system similar to the expiation notices
schemes in South Australia and the ACT. HEMP were  somewhat  more
sceptical, and organised a picket outside the CJC in anticipation
of the result. Media reports  focused  on  some  of  the  Hempers
smoking defiantly on the picket line.

While the recommended reforms certainly look good  by  comparison
with the current laws, which still provide for 15 year jail terms
even for these small  offences,  in  practice  it  represents  no
reform  at  all.  The  recommended penalties are based on current
practice in the magistrates courts. So what they are giving us is
what we've already got.

THE MIDDLE PATH

The  Courier-Mail's  feature  article  the  following   day   was
headlined  "The  Middle  Path".  Wayne Goss praised the report as
"well researched and sensible". He said "I'm pleased the starting
point  of  this debate is that the CJC has rejected legalisation,
decriminalisation and on the spot fines used in  South  Australia
and the ACT."


In other words, after all the fallout between  the  CJC  and  the
government  over  the CJC's report on prostitution law reform and
the government's rejection of it, this time the CJC has  come  up
with  a  report  that  is  thoroughly  in  line  with  government
thinking.

What the report hasn't done is suggest anything that will  change
the  black  market  marijuana  industry  in Queensland, which the
discussion paper leading up to the report valued at $280  million
a year wholesale, making it the state's second biggest cash crop,
after sugar and ahead of wheat.

The  Goss  government's  law   reforms   on   prostitution   made
prostitution  by  individuals  legal,  but  banned  any  form  of
brothels. But lately the brothels around the  Valley  have  again
become as conspicuous as they ever were.

SAME JOKE, NEW BOSS

It's business as usual. Goss's moral wowserism has given  us  the
same old joke, under new management.

The report is full of contradictions and repeats many of the well
worn  myths about marijuana use, its health effects, and the law,
even while  mentioning  clear  evidence  to  the  contrary.   The
conclusions  of  the  report are clearly in conflict with its own
research. The sudden unexplained departure of  Phil  Dickie  from
the  committee  after  writing  the  earlier  discussion paper is
obviously part of the reason for this. The document reeks  of  an
earlier draft which has been knocked back into line in a rewrite.
In his column in the Sunday Mail, Phil Dickie headlined  his  own
scathing response "Its criminal what they're NOT doing".

SAVING US FROM OURSELVES

At the bottom line, the report  trots  out  the  same  old  tired
prohibitionist line about the need to ban dangerous drugs for the
good of us all:-

"Although legalisation may have  some  benefits,  the  Commission
rejects this option for the following reasons:

- Although the available research suggests that  the  effects  of
cannabis  may  not  be significantly more harmful than some licit
drugs, this is not sufficient reason for adding to  the  list  of
available  drugs,  especially  given  the  national  health costs
associated with licit drugs.

- Even if a tightly regulated form of legalisation were  adopted,
the  legalisation  of  cannabis, like the legalisation of tobacco
and alcohol, would probably lead to an increase  in  the  use  of
cannabis in the community.

-  Australia's  obligations  under  the   Articles   of   various
international  drug  conventions  preclude  the  legalisation  of
cannabis."

The same reasons were given for rejecting decriminalisation a  la
ACT and South Australia. Under such a scheme use might go up, and
maybe  such  a  regime  wasn't  100%  kosher  under  our   treaty
obligations.

In the press conference, David Brereton said the  reason  63%  of
submissions  to  the CJC supported legalisation and 73% supported
decriminalisation was that pro reform groups  had  been  actively
lobbying,  and  it  wasn't a true reflection of public opinion on
the issue. But these figures are in fact in line with  the  CJC's
own  research. On pages 67-68 of the report the CJC publishes the
results of a public opinion survey it commissioned.  Of  the  850
people   questioned   in  the  telephone  survey,  47%  supported
legalisation, and a further 27% supported an on the spot fine.

THE LAW IS AN ASS

While the report gives the Goss government an  out  on  drug  law
reform,  Brisbane  HEMP  and other activists have no intention of
letting the matter rest  there.  This  year  leading  up  to  the
report,  we have staged two large demonstrations of 1000 and 1500
people. This process will continue.

The next major demonstration will be on Friday October 21.   That
day  is  the  final  day for submissions to the Parliamentary CJC
Committee on the CJC's report. HEMP's submission will be  carried
to  Parliament House on a giant donkey bearing the slogan The Law
is an Ass. This will be followed by  active  civil  disobedience,
with some of us smoking openly in front of Parliament House.


