Government Study Finds Aboriginal Australians More Likely To Be Charged For Pot

New study by government agency In Australia, it emphasizes that indigenous people in the country are treated very differently than non-indigenous people if caught by police for cannabis use.

The study, released earlier this month by the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Surveys (BOCSAR), “concerned 27,127 adult offenders prosecuted for cannabis use/possession between January 2017 and February 2020. based on a dataset of 38,813 observations. “

Only 11.7% of Aboriginal cannabis offenders received a “warning” from the police, compared to 43.9% of non-Aboriginal offenders.

“If you don’t get a warning, you go through the formal judicial system,” said BOSCAR Executive Director Jackie Fitzgerald. Saidquoted by ABC New England, Australia.

According to the outletthe study “found eligibility criteria for state cannabis caution programs that offer diversionary pathways.”

“The system allows police to issue warnings at their own discretion, but offenders must not be involved in other crimes.”[s]Not have a criminal record for drugs, violence, or sex offenses at the time[s]Es”, ABC New England report. “Another criterion is that the offender must have no more than 15 grams of dried cannabis. only he was 39.5 percent.”

as Fitzgerald told the outlet: “I don’t know how Aboriginal people would benefit from a program like this.”

Cannabis is illegal in Australia, but the new report comes at a time of heightened political efforts to legalize cannabis in the country.

The Green Party, now Australia’s minority political party, is largely behind the push for legalization, and last year the party received legal advice from a constitutional lawyer, allowing parliament to abolish cannabis bans over state laws. announced that it had received legal advice.

Guardian report Advice at the time centered around “three heads of power in the Commonwealth of Nations to make legalization possible”.[z]Regulating the use of cannabis through the most obvious channel through the parts of Section 51 relating to copyright, invention and design patents, and trademarks. ”

Legalization can bring great benefits. A study released earlier this year by the University of Western Australia suggested that legalization could generate $243.5 million annually in Western Australia in its first five years.

ABC Radio Perth reported. At the time, the study was commissioned by the Cannabis Legalization WA Party and “quantified the income that states could earn through illegal cannabis.”[z]“Cannabis Use,” “Considered data on the forms and frequencies of cannabis use and the estimated costs of enforcing current laws prohibiting cannabis use.”

“We wanted to know the real truth about this, but we asked without any expectation of results,” said Brian Walker, leader of the Cannabis Legalization WA Party. “This is the first time that someone has made their work public and revealed exactly how those numbers were obtained. There are things like courts and correctional institutions for those who add up to about $100 million a year.”