A group of cannabis activists have presented half a million dollars to parliament house to draw attention to the huge amounts of money lost from current cannabis legislation.
The collective of artists and advocates, accompanied by two armed security guards, attended Parliament House in Canberra with $420,000 worth of crisp green $100 notes. This amount represents a portion of the daily excise Australians are losing due to prohibition and is a nod to 420, a day celebrated by Cannabis consumers worldwide.
Recent data revealed by the Australian Greens indicate billions of dollars of potential tax revenue from cannabis are being lost annually, money that could be spent on roads, hospitals and schools.
Colorado earned more than $260 million in tax revenue in 2016 after it sold more than $1.7 billion worth of marijuana, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.
A spokesperson for the activists, known as Who Are We Hurting? said:
“Although achieving great success since initiating our annual protests over 5 years ago, we haven’t come far enough. We have seen different states adopting different changes, such as here in Canberra where you can grow your own, or the laws coming into effect in Victoria which will see a need for impairment to be proved before a medical cannabis patient can be prosecuted for drug driving, revolutionising our out-dated driving legislation.”
NSW Court magistrate David Heilpern resigned in 2020 citing drug driving laws are so ‘grossly unfair’ he can’t apply them. Since then Heilpern’s team have initiated a drive change campaign with Honahlee organisation to overhaul Australia’s drug driving legislation.
Jenny Hallam, the representative for the performance art piece, is a South Australian cannabis oil advocate that was spared conviction in 2019 for producing and supplying medicinal cannabis to terminally ill people.
“Cannabis has been saving lives for years and now it can save the economy” Says Jenny
The original Who Are We Hurting team consists of artists from The Craze Collective and athletes from Ballin’ On A Budget. They have been responsible for a number of large-scale cannabis installations and publicity stunts on April 20 for the past five years.
Spokesperson Craze explains that the group wants to publicise discourse around cannabis in Australia, and requests that the government “replace this organised crime with legitimate employment”.
“The sad fact is everybody knows that cannabis isn’t nearly as bad for people as, say, alcohol or cigarettes. But no-one wants to talk about it because it has such a stigma.”
“We’re just hoping to get people talking as we feel that Cannabis can help with anxiety during these troubling times as well as offer additional jobs to help the post-economic effects of this world-wide crisis”
2021 Who are we hurting? Team @thecrazeco @ballinonabudget @crazeske @willysworldtv @jenny_hallam @chroniclesofchristie @710at420 @avert_bags
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