Good News Weed Lovers, You Can Now Legally Get High In Canberra
Scott Morrison has already confirmed he will not be partaking.
Canberrans rejoice, for you can now legally get high in our capital city — kind of.
If you’re over 18 you can now have up to 50 grams of cannabis, smoke it in your own home and grow two plants (or four per household) under territory laws.
People are still a bit confused though, because technically under federal law it’s still a crime — and yesterday our PM Scott Morrison said he’d expect federal police to enforce the law.
"I will not be partaking," PM @ScottMorrisonMP says of Canberra's decision to legalise cannabis use – a law that comes into play on Friday.
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) January 29, 2020
No one really expects federal police to waste time chasing people over a joint — even the ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay said it would be a “strange use” of police resources — but technically they could.
And the laws are still a bit weird. It’s still illegal to buy, sell or share cannabis, you can’t legally buy the seeds to grow it, and hydroponic setups are still illegal. So even if you can legally smoke weed, you have to break the law to get it in the first place.
“This isn’t about legalising and getting a system of sale going on … all we are doing is providing a legal excuse for adults,” Ramsey said.
I wonder if there will be a joint committee to discuss use in Parliament House?
— Bede Kelleher (@Bedeapk) January 29, 2020
Still, it’s the news that Canberrans need right now, after weeks of choking bushfire smoke, severe fires and damaging hail.
The laws were passed in September but come into force today.