The head of a leading youth charity called for Australia`s government to follow Canada`s lead in legalizing marijuana.
According to the Daily Mail, Matt Noffs is the chief executive of the Ted Noffs Foundation, which helps vulnerable teenagers. He said Australia should prepare for the marijuana legislation by ensuring that best health and safety measures are in place.
Noffs said the legalization of marijuana was not a question of "if," but of "when."
"History tells me that our drug laws, good or bad, take time to lift the ban once they become aware that they don`t work," he said.
Although Australia is a leader in tobacco reform, Noffs believes Australia lags behind other countries in implementing effective marijuana legislation, although Australia is one of the countries with the highest proportion of marijuana users.
He worries about the impact of delayed legislation and lack of control. "I`m not in favour of legalizing marijuana without control," he said. "I now support more control, and when it comes to Australia`s control of marijuana, it`s almost hypothetical."
During the legalization of marijuana, Canada banned marijuana advertising, enforced ordinary packaging, regulated the display of ingredients, and limited the number of stores available for sale.
The minimum age for marijuana purchase is 19, except for two provinces that are allowed to be 18.
Noffs also called for more research into marijuana, and while marijuana has been criticised for causing anxiety and depression, Noffs says alcohol can cause the same mental health problems. He admits that marijuana is addicted, but not as addicted as nicotine.
(photo source: daily Mail)
He also pointed out that teenagers will continue to smoke marijuana regardless of whether they are legal or not.
Although smoking is legal, Australia is controlling the number of young people smoking, he said. "Let`s do the same for marijuana," he said.
For people aged 14 or over in Australia in 2016, a set of data on marijuana:
35% (or 6.9 million people) had used marijuana in their lifetime;
In the past 12 months, 10.4% (or 2.1 million people) used marijuana;
18.7 was the average age at which people first tried marijuana;
21% had access to marijuana in the first 12 months;
Twenty-two percent of people in their 20s have recently used marijuana;
The average age of the most recent marijuana users was 34 years;
14.4% of people use marijuana every day.
