The government could collect A$700 million in annual tax within three years of legalising cannabis, the Greens have claimed, as the party stepped up efforts to “make legal cannabis a reality”.
Senator David Shoebridge said the revenue estimates have been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office and prove how communities across Australia could benefit from a legal adult-use scheme.
Such a move would not only remove wealth from “bikie gangs and organised crime” and into legitimate businesses, it would provide funds for schools, hospitals and climate action, the party said.
In what amounted to a pre-election pledge, Shoebridge said the Greens would continue to press for a well-regulated market where Australians could buy cannabis from licensed dispensaries and cannabis cafes and grow up to six plants at home.
The senator, who unsuccessfully tabled the Legalise Cannabis Bill in the federal parliament last year, said: “Labor had the chance to vote for legalisation and blew it. We’re not waiting for them to wake up.
“The Greens’ plan will let the public decide if they want to spend more time and money on the failed war on drugs or grow a new sustainable and exciting industry.
“Billions of dollars in revenue, just imagine what that fresh funding could do for mental health, education, and drug programs.
“Legal weed isn’t a wild idea. It’s already working in Canada, Germany, and most of the US. Why is Australia stuck in the past?”
He contrasted the illicit market, with its “random strength mystery weed”, delivering billions of dollars to criminal networks, with the Greens’ proposal of a legal industry generating “safe, labelled, quality-controlled cannabis that is maybe even organically grown”.
“That’s the future we see,” he said. “This would be an amazing step up from the current policy setting.
“The future we see is one with secure regional jobs, safe products, flourishing small businesses and the option to visit a chilled-out cannabis cafe.”
