There will be no household limit on number of legal cannabis plants
The Canberra Times - 10 th December 2018 - By Katie Burgess
The private members bill from Labor
backbencher Michael Pettersson removes the
possession of cannabis under 50g as an
offence and allows individuals to cultivate up
to four plants.
Share houses in Canberra could be teeming
with pot plants when cannabis is legalised
next year, with no household limits on the
number of plants permissible.
A share house with four residents could have
16 plants, so long as each of the four residents
tended to their own four plants.
There's no restriction on plant size either.
Mr Pettersson said his bill aimed to reduce the
reliance personal consumers have on the
black market and its drug dealers by allowing
individuals to cultivate four cannabis plants.
"However, individuals engaging in drug
trafficking activities and the sale of cannabis
continue to commit drug offences and they
will be pursued by ACT Police as they are
now," Mr Pettersson said.
Asked whether the above scenario was
plausible, Mr Pettersson said: "As long as
they are individually cultivating them, yes."
"The legislation deals with the limit as a
cultivation limit.
This means an individual is allowed to
cultivate a maximum of four plants.
And it’s worth saying it again; individuals
engaging in drug trafficking activities and the
sale of cannabis continue to commit drug
offences and they will be pursued by ACT
Police as they are now," he said.
The plants cannot be grown hydroponically
or with artificial light.
However because there is no limit on the total
number of plants per household, it's led to
speculation that houses with multiple
residents could have multiple plants each.
The legalisation of cannabis also throws up a
few other curly questions, such as whether
prisoners at the Alexander Maconochie
Centre will be able to access it
Mr Pettersson said that was a question for
Justice Minister Shane Rattenbury, although
he noted that the prison maintained lists of
contraband items which cannabis would be on
currently and could remain on even if made
legal.
Mr Rattenbury said it was premature to be
speculating about the bill's implementation in
correctional facilities, as it was yet to be
debated, let alone passed.
Speaking as the Greens spokesman on drug
policy,
Mr
Rattenbury
said
the
decriminalisation of recreational cannabis
would make an important contribution to
stopping some people ending up in the justice
system.
"Allowing adults in the ACT to possess and
use cannabis acknowledges the modern
reality that many adults choose to use
cannabis," Mr Rattenbury said.
"This is a small but significant step in a long
journey of drug law reform that we hope will
ultimately see personal drug use treated as a
health issue, rather than as a justice issue.