The Australian capital city of Canberra just made history after becoming the country’s first jurisdiction to legalize the possession, cultivation, and use of marijuana, ABC News reported.
The laws, which will go into effect on January 31 next year, were passed on Wednesday afternoon in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
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The ACT attorney general told the assembly it was time to stop treating drug addiction as an issue of “right and wrong.”
Rather, Gordon Ramsay said, it should be treated as a health issue, adding that these new laws will also include more drug and alcohol services, as well as the introduction of specific drug courts.
So what exactly is legal and illegal now?
Under these new regulations, Canberra residents over the age of 18 will be able to legally possess up to 50 grams of dry cannabis, 150 grams of wet, and cultivate up to two plants per person with a max of four per household.
But that doesn’t mean people can just smoke up wherever they want.
The laws prohibit users from consuming cannabis in public, or anywhere near children, and they must also store their marijuana somewhere that is inaccessible to children.
In that same vein, cannabis plants will have to be grown somewhere also inaccessible to both children and the general public.
Ramsay said possessing and growing cannabis will remain a federal offense and still carry risks.
“This does not entirely remove the risk of people being arrested under Commonwealth law, and we are being up front with the community about that,” he said.
The ACT’s chief police officer, Ray Johnson, added that “we’ll work to make [the new legislation] as effective as it can be.”
Opponents of the new regulation argued it’s poorly drafted and will lead to “perverse outcomes.”
ACT shadow attorney-general Jeremy Hanson told the assembly the Liberal opposition was not in support of the new bill, saying it will encourage more people to use cannabis and will also confuse police officers, since it conflicts with commonwealth law.
“This puts not only individuals at a greater risk but our police will be out there on the beat working in this unclear legal framework,” he argued.
A review of the laws will be conducted within the next three years.
h/t: ABC News
