A damning counter-policy response has exposed Australian cannabis legalisation proposals as a dangerous deception that would unleash devastating public health consequences. The comprehensive analysis of the Penington Cannabis Control Plan reveals how “health-first” rhetoric masks commercialisation that prioritises addiction-for-profit economics over genuine community wellbeing.
The document warns that cannabis control Australia advocates ignore overwhelming evidence from jurisdictions where legalisation has failed spectacularly. “Once a substance is trivialised, normalised, decriminalised, legalised then commercialised – harms will increase and the human cost in short and long-term harms, not least to the emerging generation will be incalculable,” the analysis states.
Devastating Health Evidence Ignored by Legalisation Advocates
Between 2019 and 2024, dozens of peer-reviewed medical journal population studies completed on massive populations, including 330 million US citizens from 50 states and significant populations from 14 European countries, confirm what has been known for decades: cannabis is mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic.
The public health impacts revealed by these studies are substantial. Cannabis is shown to be causal in:
- 33 cancers compared to 16 for tobacco, where Cannabidiol (CBD) is the most carcinogenic cannabinoid at 12 cancers
- Cancers which make up 70% of paediatric cancer cases
- 90 birth defects out of 95 tracked in the European Union including hole in the heart, cleft lip/palate and limb deformities
- Autism, where CBD is once again heavily implicated
- Premature ageing of users by 30% at 30 years
“The studies show that cannabis provides a greater burden, in terms of cancers caused in a population, than either tobacco or alcohol,” the document states. Yet Australian cannabis legalisation proponents remain “culpably silent on the very real demonstrable costs that far outweigh its touted benefits.”
International Experience Proves Control Impossible
The analysis systematically demolishes claims that cannabis control Australia schemes can prevent harm. Evidence from legalised jurisdictions tells a different story entirely:
Cannabis Use Disorder is rising, with over 40% of schizophrenia cases in Canadian youth now linked to cannabis use. Emergency department visits among young people have surged post-legalisation in both Canada and parts of the US.
Criminal markets persist: In California, the black market remains larger than the legal one. In Oregon, cannabis-related organised crime and illegal grows have increased since Measure 110. In Colorado, youth access through diverted legal supply remains a top concern of police departments.
Regulation systematically fails: Age restrictions are routinely bypassed through social sourcing, straw purchasers, and online sales. In Colorado, over 40% of youth report accessing cannabis through someone else’s legal purchase. Potency limits are either unenforced or raised over time, under pressure from commercial operators seeking higher profits.
The document warns: “The idea that cannabis can be safely controlled through retail licensing ignores the reality of regulatory capture. As with tobacco and alcohol, once an addictive industry is legalised, it does not stay in its lane.”
Economic Claims Exposed as Fraudulent
Australian cannabis legalisation advocates suggest the policy will generate tax revenue, create jobs, and reduce enforcement costs. The document exposes these claims as “economically optimistic, but empirically empty.”
The data shows:
- In California, legal operators are going bankrupt due to price collapse and black market competition
- In Canada, tax revenues from cannabis make up less than 0.4% of total federal revenue, while mental health and healthcare costs continue to rise
- A 2024 cost-benefit analysis found that for every dollar earned in cannabis tax revenue, up to $4.50 is spent on downstream public costs, including healthcare, road trauma, regulation, and lost productivity
The analysis notes that 43% or $59 billion of Australia’s total $137 billion smoking-related costs in 2015/16 came from cancers alone. With cannabis causing more cancers than tobacco, these costs would escalate dramatically under Australian cannabis legalisation.
“Legalisation does create jobs — mostly in marketing, lobbying, and packaging — but these come at the cost of public health and workforce reliability,” the document states. “Youth daily use increases, absenteeism rises, and workplace accidents become more frequent in states and provinces that legalise.”
Australia’s Failed Medical Cannabis Framework Signals Disaster
The document highlights how Australia’s existing ‘Vote for Medicine’ framework demonstrates regulatory failure, describing it as “a very thin facade of medical legitimacy tasked to facilitate recreational use to growing numbers of uninformed customers.” This system serves as “a clear harbinger of only further harms that will be precipitated by the expansion and repetition of these current failed regulation protocols.”
Prevention Framework Offers Real Solutions
Rather than pursuing cannabis control Australia policies that have failed elsewhere, the analysis advocates for proven prevention and recovery models:
- Wandoo Rehabilitation Prison’s sub-1% recidivism rate
- Kenton County’s two-phase Strong Start program, which slashed reoffending by over 60%
- Portsmouth, Ohio models showing whole-of-community recovery through integrated housing, employment pathways, trauma-informed counselling, and wraparound services
The document emphasises that “the only model that manages to achieve control outcomes has been the QUIT campaign on Tobacco. The gold standard of ‘denormalisation’ is the key. All media, education, government and health policies and practices have only One Focus, One Message and One Voice – QUIT.”
A Philosophy of Managed Despair
The analysis delivers a devastating verdict on Australian cannabis legalisation: “It has become a philosophy of surrender, where managed despair is mistaken for compassion and policy ambitions have shrunk to keeping people alive in misery rather than enabling them to live with dignity and hope.”
The document concludes: “What Australia needs is not a Cannabis Control Plan, but a Cannabis Prevention and Recovery Framework” that centres on evidence-based prevention, structured diversion programs, and genuine recovery support rather than commercial normalisation of an addictive psychotropic substance.
Australia faces a clear choice: repeat the devastating mistakes of other jurisdictions that prioritised industry profits over public health, or choose evidence-based prevention that protects future generations from avoidable harm.
Source: Dalgarno Institute
