A cannabis plant (Image: EPA/Private Media)

Tim Stephens writes: We need Gough Whitlam back to do what he did with brewing one’s own beer at home (“Is NSW ready for cannabis reform? Weed activists prepare for the election”). Before he acted, it was illegal to brew beer at home even for your own consumption. Since legalisation, brewing has developed into a magic little industry of its own. Society hasn’t collapsed and commercial breweries still exist.

Of course cannabis should be decriminalised! What is the coherent argument against me in my own backyard growing a plant or two and doing what I do with my home (craft?) brew? That is, sitting quietly and contemplating the madness of the world with some synaptic enhancement.

Get rid of the dealers and scum, for sure. There is no profit for them if all it takes is a pot (pardon the pun), some water and sunshine.

ZuZu Burford writes: My daughter was working in the US department that raised the tax and licences when Washington state legalised the recreational use of cannabis. Growers were bringing in US$35 million monthly, and during COVID that rose to US$42 million monthly. 

The legislature decides how that money is dispersed. A lot of it goes to children and families, but also to universities to do studies, to the towns that said yes to selling or producing marijuana, and to the Agriculture Department so it can do tests for pesticides and research. It’s a no-brainer when it comes to money for the government.

David Wright writes: Legalise cannabis? Why not? Does it do more harm than alcohol and tobacco, two inherently harmful but fully legal drugs? I cannot see that it does. It is linked to various mental illnesses — but then so is alcohol.

Making drugs of any kind illegal makes them more attractive to our youth and makes the criminal classes rich. It also has a corrupting influence on our police forces. Making all drugs legal is a sensible solution. Make them freely available from pharmacies around the country, drugs of known purity and potency.

There is no way in the world that legislation and enforcement is going to stop those bent on consuming these substances from doing so. There is no way in the world that enforcement is going to stop the criminal classes supplying the market. Why not simply bow to the inevitable? Spend the money now spent on ineffective enforcement on education instead. Sure, people will die of overdoses, as they do now while the drugs are illegal, as alcoholics die of their addiction, as smokers die of their addiction. It is impossible to stop people suiciding in cars, by rope, by firearms, by drugs. It happens every day.

William JF Ditmarsch writes: Neither I nor anybody else of my generation that I know ever heard of cannabis until 1970 or so. I have never needed it, tried it or wanted it. Whether it is good for you or has unhealthy side effects does not matter. I believe in the right of an individual to choose. Thus, provided it does not adversely affects others, cannabis should be decriminalised. Getting a penalty for driving while under the influence of it is no different from getting one for being drunk.

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