In this episode I speak with Sophia Moermand who was voted into the upper house of Western Australia (on preferences) as a WA Cannabis Party ticket. With her former colleague Dr Brian Walker they were the first Australians to be elected to public office on a solely cannabis platform.
She has recently left the party and will stand in the next upper house election as an independent.
We talk about a whole range of subjects including.
- West Australian Misuse of Drugs Act 1981
- How The Cannabis Party of Australia is structured
- What Legislation has been tabled in West Australia?
- Education & cannabis in Australia
- Other politicians and their attitudes towards cannabis ( reefer madness still abounds!)
- Why Sophia has left the cannabis party
Sophia Moermand
Sophia in Wikipedia
Sophia Moermond (born 14 September 1968) is an Australian politician. She was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council at the 2021 state election, representing Legalise Cannabis WA.
Early life
Moermond was born in Rotterdam on 14 September 1968. She moved to South Africa with her parents in 1972, returning to the Netherlands four years later. The family immigrated to Australia in 1983, settling in Heathridge, Western Australia. She attended Ocean Reef Senior High School, then returned to the Netherlands to study nursing. She graduated in 1991 and returned to Australia.
Career
Prior to entering politics, Moermond was a practising naturopath and Chinese medicine practitioner, based in Perth. She also worked as an educator in the corporate sector.
Moermond studied at Perth Academy of Natural Therapies, having initially trained as a registered nurse at the Anna Reynvaan School of Nursing in Amsterdam. She moved to Western Australia with her parents in 1983, and has an active interest in health, the environment, women’s rights, and animal welfare.
Politics
At the 2021 Western Australian state election, Moermond was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council as a member for Legalise Cannabis WA in the South West Region.
On May 9 2024, Moermond quit Legalise Cannabis to sit as an independent, citing a difference in views between herself and Brian Walker on offshore wind turbines.
Hon. Sophia Moermond MLC
Legalise Cannabis WA
I am a member of the Legislative Council in the Parliament of Western Australia for the Legalise Cannabis Party.
I am the 114th woman to be appointed to Parliament and the first woman to be voted into Parliament on a legalise cannabis platform. Legalising cannabis became very important to me after a journey I took with my mother down the medicinal cannabis path. The process was very difficult and expensive and I found something that could help my mother and so many other people was so difficult to do here in Australia, yet other countries in this world embrace cannabis and it’s many benefits to human health.
I believe cannabis can help with the many environmental challenges our society faces in our very near future. We need to make society aware of the many and varied uses for cannabis and industrial hemp. I believe we should be creating many industries around industrial hemp including processing hemp for herd to build housing, insulation, carpets, food, compostable packaging and carbon capture, just to name a few.
Freedom of choice to smoke cannabis, just like you have the freedom to buy a beer from a regulated outlet and drink it should not have to be a choice between being law abiding or not. Cannabis should be regulated and taxed, just like alcohol. The many flavours and strengths of cannabis should also be available from a store, just as alcohol is
Have a look further into my website, or subscribe to my newsletter to find out more about how cannabis, and cannabis legalisation will give us all better access to freedom of choice, healthier medicine and products and a happier environment.
Hon. Sophia Moermond
Legalise Cannabis Party WA
https://www.sophiamoermondmlc.com.au/
Also see
