Commissioners go head-to-head over cannabis legalisation
The Greens campaign to legalise cannabis has found an unlikely supporter in a former police commissioner.
Mick Palmer, former Australian Federal Police Commissioner (above, right) appeared in a press conference with Greens Leader Richard Di Natale earlier today, and told Nick McCallum he’d come to realise over time that a prohibition policy wasn’t working.
“We haven’t reduced use, we haven’t reduced supply and in regards to cannabis, I think to continue with the policy we have, is to continue to fail,” Mr Palmer said.
“I’m not a supporter of many Greens policies but I applaud them for this one, I think it makes sense and we should be prepared to try it.”
Click PLAY to hear Mick Palmer’s point of view
On the other side, former police officer of 30+ years experience, Union boss and current Victims of Crime Commissioner, Greg Davies, told Nick he vehemently disagrees with Mr Palmer.
“Whether or not things work at the moment is probably not the issue, what we’re talking about is experimenting with Australians, 800,000 Australians Mr Palmer referred to before, so we’ll just use them an guinea pigs when we don’t know what the outcome is likely to be,” Mr Davies said.
“Marijuana clearly exacerbates mental health issues, particularly in young people.”
Mr Davies said he feared he’d be dealing with a lot more victims if this policy was to be put in place.
Click PLAY below to hear from the Victims of Crime Commissioner
Photos: AAP