A Snapshot: Prohibition
Did you know cannabis was made illegal in Australia in 1926, even though cannabis wasn’t considered a problem in Australia at the time? Like a lot of newbie nations under British rule, we jumped on board and signed treaties willy nilly, hoping to look compliant and make the big players proud.
Enter the 1925 Geneva Convention.
Australia’s inclusion as a signatory to the 1925 Geneva Convention on Opium and Other Drugs was the result of pressure from the United Kingdom, and later the United States. It meant cannabis was suddenly lumped in the same boat as heroin, fentanyl, amphetamine, and cocaine, despite cannabis’ use as a medicine in Australia at the time. In fact, the majority of drug-related laws being enacted in Australia were related to post-war opium use. Cannabis wasn’t even on the radar.
This prohibition model was applied with little research into cannabis use in Australia, and was simply enacted because ‘Britain said to’ and ‘America did it’.
In the 1930’s the US even started influencing the Australian media, with one Aussie newspaper publishing an article titled ‘New Drug That Maddens Victims’ and subtitled ‘Warning from America.’
This article marked the start of an American-inspired Reefer Madness campaign in Australia, claiming cannabis was some sort of evil sex drug.
It began:
‘A MEXICAN drug that drives men and women to the wildest sexual excesses has made its first appearance in Australia. It distorts moral values and leads to degrading sexual extravagances. It’s called marihuana. (sic)’
Fun fact, the article – DEFINITELY NOT WRITTEN BY THE US BUREAU OF NARCOTICS – also introduced the word marijuana to Australia in an attempt to change the public’s perception of cannabis.
The rest of the article – published in a mainstream Australian newspaper no less – went on to say.
‘Under the influence of the drug, the addict becomes at times almost an uncontrollable sex-maniac, able to obtain satisfaction only from the most appalling of perversions and orgies.’
But that was 1938.
It’s now 2025 and while most of the world has moved on, Australia is still falling for the same bullshit.
Currently the United States is in the process of rescheduling cannabis from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 drug. This is the US Government admitting that cannabis is not the evil sex drug it led us to believe. It’s the US Government accepting that there is credible scientific support for the use of cannabis medicinally. And it is the US Government accepting that it’s time to move on.
This is a huge shift in US cannabis policy, and it’s happening under a president who, in his home state of Florida, voted for the adult use of cannabis to be legalised. In fact, one in five US residents lives in a jurisdiction with fully legal cannabis, even though the US was the main architect and driving force behind global cannabis prohibition.
Yet, despite our propensity to follow suit with our American friends, when it comes to cannabis, we’re being smoked.
As the highly-respected Penington Institute says, ‘we are long overdue for cannabis law reform’. Yet, in Australia, cannabis is still stigmatised.
Even the Australian Medical Association (AMA), the traditionally conservative peak professional body for doctors in Australia, who formally opposed cannabis reform in 2023, said that ‘the absolute risk of harms associated with cannabis use is low and those who use cannabis occasionally are unlikely to be affected.’
Fear mongering is still rife though, and falsehoods are still being said with no evidence to back them up. Just like they were more than 80 years ago(!!!) in the 1930’s.
It’s time to legalise it.