Dr. Brian Walker questions the Minister for Medical Research on whether they or cabinet colleagues will experiment with cannabis to better understand reform needs, referencing a German minister's experience. The Minister responds negatively, stating the WA government opposes decriminalisation.

AnsweredQoN 400Legislative Council
Asked
30 March 2023
Portfolio
Medical Research

QuestionView source ↗

CANNABIS — EXPERIMENTATION
400. Hon Dr BRIAN WALKER to the Minister for Medical
Research:
As we approach this year's
420 celebrations, I refer the minister to a press conference held recently by
the German federal Minister for Health, Dr Karl Lauterbach, during which he
admitted that in order to better understand the need for cannabis reform, he
had experimented with the drug, broadening his own understanding in the
process.
In the interests of medical
research, will the minister, or any of his cabinet colleagues for that matter,
commit to similar experiments so that he and they can claim at least some level
of experience before refusing yet again to entertain calls for the legalisation
of cannabis here in Western Australia; and, if not, why not?
Hon Sue Ellery : You should
check the public record because you will find that some of us already have!

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
I
have to say that the Bob Dylan song lyrics ''Everybody must get stoned''
were going through my head when I read the member's question! The
answer is no. The Western Australian government does not support the
decriminalisation of cannabis.
The PRESIDENT : It is the
Thursday before Easter, but, members, honestly!

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