Australia IMHO has never broken out of the colonial mindset, where the government knows what is best for you. Beyond drugs, that includes pervasive censorship of movies, books, video games, Internet etc. The lack of First and Fourth amendment style protections means that ultimately the government has the final call on these topics, and for whatever reason, neither of the two primary political parties seem inclined to change the status quo.
The hypocrisy of it is quite transparent. Last I checked, possession of cannabis and X rated pornography is illegal in all states and territories of Australia, except for the Australian Capital Territory which is the equivalent of DC. Which of course is where most of the politicians are.
Not to mention the pervasiveness of cocaine throughout the community, from tradies to barristers, doctors etc. The hypocritical nanny state mentality that keeps these politicians acting this way is driven by our community and it is sickening.
Whether magistrates would look at the levels of THC in your blood and be sympathetic to an argument that you had consumed a long time ago (and thus were no longer under the influence) is another question. I tend to think magistrates would side with the law as written in most cases, if the law explicitly prohibits driving with any amount of THC detectable in blood tests.
Rightly so. I mean maybe it’s too strict (i.e. you’re totally sober but still will be penalized for having anything show up in your blood) but in general driving under THC influence is as bad as driving on alcohol, you could get yourself and others killed.
It's really not. There have been tests done by a government transport regulatory agency (in an EU country), comparing THC, alcohol and sober driving.
While alcohol promotes reckless driving (i know what i'm doing, i've got it, even if i don't), driving under THC is different, people are much more careful, even compared with the sober state. Slower driving, less incidents.
Alcohol makes you kill yourself and others, takes only few hours to get out of your system. THC makes you drive slower and more careful, can be found in blood days or weeks later (with no effect on cognition or faculties).
You're right that driving under any influence is (probably) not safe. But this seems like the same kind of stupid like testing your hair for drinking alcohol few months back.
It was very revealing from overseas looking in during Covid, where there was (proverbial) dancing on the graves of expats locked out of the country for 2+ years. Should have come home when the big boss in Canberra said to, mate!
(Except, actually, I'm kind of happy with Penny Wong as foreign minister)
I’m not sure where you are from, but Australia doesn’t share the blind scepticism of government you see in many other countries.
Lots of Australians are politically engaged and generally our politicians are quite accessible. It’s not uncommon to see your federal or state member in the community shopping or eating or just generally living their lives.
Our governments are not perfect, in fact some times they do truly reprehensible things, but it still feels like things can change and get better here
Then after complaint they completely changed to make it an over the counter drug. Although as far as I know it's still not available at any chemist I know of. But you can still buy it as Leather cleaner from few sex shops. (Less than it used to)
Lol. Australia is less conservative than the US. We are much less religious, sex work is legal, and the drinking age is lower. Marijuana is widely available and accepted, and its legal status is irrelevant most of the time.
Progress but unfortunately no chance the TGA will make this genuinely accessible.
Keep in mind, the TGA ensure you need a prescription to buy nicotine vaping products.
When they say "for medical usage", they mean it.
This is not just a nice acceptable easing in of liberal recreational drugs policy.
Don't expect to be buying party drugs from the chemist before going out on saturday night. Despite the fact that this is precisely what should be happening - nice, safe, clean party drugs instead of god knows what probably methamphetamine/ice.