That’s what it’s all about !
ABC Australia reports
Legalising cannabis in Western Australia could see the state’s fortunes boosted by $243.5 million per year in the first five years, according to a report from the University of Western Australia.
Key points:
- A report out of UWA shows the state could save $100m and make $143.5m if cannabis is legalised
- Dr Brian Walker says cannabis needs to be legalised in order to be regulated for safer consumption
- Mixed views from Perth community when it comes to legalising cannabis
The report quantified the revenue the state could make through legalising cannabis. It considered data about the form and frequency of cannabis use, as well as the estimated cost of enforcing current laws that prohibit cannabis use.
Brian Walker, leader of the Legalise Cannabis WA Party which commissioned the report, said the research was “groundbreaking”.
“We wanted to find out the actual truth on this, and we commissioned this not expecting any particular result,” Dr Walker told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth.
“This is the first time anyone has shown their working, and set out exactly how their figures were arrived at.
“On the spending side we’ve got stuff like your police — for chasing a cannabis crime — the courts and the corrective services for managing that. Altogether, that’s about $100 million per year.”
The data for the report — An Economic Case to Legalise Cannabis in Western Australia — came from a wide range of sources including the Australian National Drug Strategy Survey, Australian Crime Commission, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW.
Read their full report
