Australian Constitutional Challenge to Drug Laws!
Submitted by niall on Sat, 09/06/2008 - 19:12

I'm pleased to announce that we finally have a viable Constitutional challenge to the
validity of Australian drug laws.

The case concerns medical and religious use of cannabis, but the arguments being
made by the defendants are applicable to all naturally occurring, useful medicinal
plants that have been banned in Australia without any evidentiary basis. Every
Australian adult should have access to safe and effective natural medicines. Useful
plants that have been banned due to ignorance, bigotry and personal belief - rather
than scientific evidence of their safety and efficacy - must be returned to the kitchen
gardens and apothecaries of Australia for the health and welfare of otherwise law-
abiding, responsible adults.

At the heart of this case is the medicinal and religious use of cannabis by the
defendants, in the privacy of their own home. Cannabis plays a central, defining role
in their religion - Christianity. Their use of cannabis in healing and in prayer is
required by their religion - Christ is a literal translation of the Greek 'Christos' which
means 'Messiah' or 'Annointed One' from the original Hebrew texts. Moses, Aaron and
his sons, Jesus and his disciples - they all made use of the holy annointing oil, the
chrism, which contained large quantities of cannabis (Exodus 30:23) and was used to
annoint the Kings and Priests of Israel, and to heal the sick and dying. One cannot be
a Christian unless they have been annointed with this most holy of oils, undergoing
the 'Fire Baptism'.

However there is another side to this coin.

The Australian Constitution ensures that citizens enjoy both freedom of religion, and
freedom FROM religion. I cannot impose my religion upon you, and you cannot
impose yours upon me. The defendants contend that Australian drug laws are based
on moral belief, with cannabis and illicit drugs regularly referred to as an "evil".
There is no evidence to support the prohibition of safe and effective natural
medicines such as cannabis. Prohibition laws with no basis in scientific evidence and
public health, particularly in the context of extremely harmful licit drugs such as
alcohol and tobacco, are effectively imposing a moral belief of abstinance on others.
The authors of our Constitution were very careful in the language that they chose.
This part of our Constitution is to ensure that one section of society cannot impose
their beliefs upon another. With the promise of a fresh start in the British colonies of
Australia and the United States of America, our forefathers were very clear: religious
belief must not be forced upon the people.

In addition to these points, the defendants have drafted a 30 page brief detailing
tens of arguments, points of law, precedence and case law to support their claim that
Australian drug laws are invalid and the issue must be resolved anew by Parliament.
They cover Victorian law, Australian Federal law and International law including the
UN Single Convention on Narcotics.

This case is our best chance to fix these discriminatory and disproportionate laws. But
we need your help! Please get involved in this case - read up on the case, discuss the
case and the defense with us in the forums, consider writing your own supporting
submission to Court, and above all we need your donations! The defendants are both
on disability pension and suffer from Autism and various spinal injuries and other
health problems. We need to help support them with a fighting fund so that the case
is not at risk of collapsing from something basic like a lack of food and shelter, travel
to and from Court, and day to day logistical expenses such as photocopying and
phone calls! Please help us, your support is not only pivotal to this case it is required!
We've gotten this far on our own, but it could take years to reach the High Court.
The defendants are now unable to afford basic grocery items like milk and bread on
a regular basis!

Please help us, and please sign up and get involved here on CannabisFacts.info!