Reason Party leader and Victorian Upper House member, Fiona Patten, has labelled the Greens call to legalise recreational cannabis as a desperate attempt to stay relevant to young voters and without reference to recent developments in the US and Canada. Ms Patten has been a strong advocate for the legalisation of cannabis for many years and is currently in Canada meeting with MPs and health experts to discuss their upcoming legislation around regulating cannabis.
“While it is great to see the Greens adopting Reason policy, I cannot help but question the motives behind their policy change. Dr Di Natale vehemently opposed my policy to legalise recreational cannabis at a public meeting in Nimbin two years ago. The Greens previously voted down my amendments in the Victorian Parliament to make medical cannabis available to a wider cohort of patients in Victoria which makes their U-turn on this issue appear inconsistent and little more than an attempt to try to grab votes from the Reason party.”
She said that the Greens were approaching the legalisation of cannabis from a revenue angle rather than focussing on harm reduction in the community. “I am in Canada at the moment discussing the upcoming legislation to legalise and regulate cannabis. Canada has conducted more hearings and committees into this legislation than they did into their Voluntary Assisted Dying Legislation, and it really shows. Their bill is detailed and thoughtful with a clear focus on the impact on the community. It is a model that Victoria and Australia should follow. I think the Greens would really benefit from actually watching what Canada is doing and learning from it. The Greens’ policy lacks sophistication and uses examples like the Uruguay model which does not take into account the power of states in Australia to develop their own legislation. This is something that Canada is working through now.”
Ms Patten has been a passionate campaigner for the legalisation of drugs for many years and it was one of the main reasons she went into politics. Last year, she secured one of the biggest inquiries into drug law reform ever in Australia and the opening of the first trial of a Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Victoria. “The Greens appear to have ignored the large body of evidence presented in the Victorian Committee’s Drug Law Reform Report. I have travelled across Australia and the world looking at the different ways that different jurisdictions deal with drug law, and I even had the opportunity to try legalised cannabis in Vancouver last week.”
“What is encouraging is that the Greens clearly recognise that this policy is wildly supported by the Victorian public – and a vote winner. The current war on drugs is not working and we need to look at new ways of addressing the issue. I would like to see more political parties aligning their policies with the Reason party because they believe in change; not just because there are elections approaching.”
– Fiona Patten MP, 17.04.18
For interview requests and further comments please contact: Fabia Tate, 0468 369 130, fabia.tate@parliament.vic.gov.au
