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Recruitment: National Cannabis Diversion Survey

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Hi everyone

I am from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales and we have just launched a national online survey called the cannabis diversion survey which aims to evaluate the outcomes of issuing a cannabis diversion (e.g. cannabis caution or cannabis expiation notice) instead of a criminal charge for minor cannabis offences in Australia. In particular, we will be looking at impacts on health, employment status, relationships, crime and patterns of drug use for those people who have been diverted or charged.

This is the first national study of its kind so we are keen to recruit as many participants as possible. We have advertised the study in a range of places including through drug user organisations, peak drug and alcohol bodies in each state and territory, twitter, and facebook, but we think this might also be of interest to this community. Our target group for the survey is anyone aged 17 years or older, who lives in Australia, and has been stopped by police for a cannabis use or possession offence in the past 3-9 months. If you meet these criteria we would like you to take part. To participate go to:

www.cannabisdiversionsurvey.com.au

The survey has just commenced (15 July 2014) and will run for 3-4 months. It takes about 15-20 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous.

So why should you take part? First, this will give you the opportunity to have your say on whether Australian police should divert or charge cannabis users for minor cannabis offences. Second, you can help influence future policy discussions surrounding cannabis diversion. (Some of our previous research has led to policy change, including surrounding Australian pharmacotherapy provision and drug laws.) Third, all respondents who complete the survey will be eligible to win a $200 music voucher.

If you would like more information contact Marian at UNSW: (02) 8936 1215 or [email protected]. This study has received ethics approval: HREC Ref: # HC1420.

Cheers

Edited by DPMP
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Hi DPMP, i am sorry but i cannot complete the survey because my friend warned me about the sniffer dogs and i got off the train just in time!

Jokes aside, I hope you get a lot of useful responses. I am very interested in the outcome and will be following this topic. I am a big fan of the diversion system and can only assume it has positive societal outcomes. I suppose time will tell.

Good luck!

PS you should stick around, i'm sure you'll learn something or make new friends! peace

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Thanks for your interest and for the wishes Franke! And thanks to anyone who has taken part in the survey so far.

Cheers,

Matt

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Also for anyone who is keen to see the results, we plan to disseminate them throughout all the places we are advertising the study on. So when the results are finalised (we believe sometime mid 2015), we will post to this forum for everyone to see :)

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expiation notices? think of the revenue that will be raised through this, the government will be sure to support it, they'll make billions out of harmless casual cannabis users (as though the poor bastards who risk going to jail for growing it safely themselves don't already pay enough of an exorbitant amount of money for the crappy mass produced organized-crime weed they're all but forced to consume) while at the same time easing the pressure on the court system that is currently clogged with minor cannabis offenses.. A good reason to ramp up the number of drug searches & oppressive police tactics on the street if ever there was one..

I have a cannabis cultivation conviction, within a decade i will be putting it at the top of my resume when the demand for legal medical cannabis is booming off the scales..

This seems at first glance as a step in the right direction but I'm a bit skeptical about legal moves that give governments seemingly increased incentives to bust people & a very good reason to keep much more intelligent legislation amendments from ever being passed..

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I'm assuming that you're posting similar threads in all the Aussie cannabis forums at http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en-AU&source=hp&q=forums%3B+cannabis%3B+au%3B+list&gbv=2&oq=forums%3B+cannabis%3B+au%3B+list&gs_l=heirloom-hp.12...4002.12074.0.13884.8.8.0.0.0.0.1051.2862.4-1j1j1j1.4.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-hp..5.3.2053.57YT0Dtzd_U

I'll post about this tomorrow at aussielegalhighs.com.au & legalhighsforum.com.au and leave the rest to you.

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Hi CLICKHEREx.

Thanks for the support and for sharing this to other forums. Appreciate it!

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Does anyone have a good explanation as to whether my suspicions regarding this are unfounded? I'd love to hear an intelligent reason why this move is not little more than a political ploy by authorities that realize they can no longer fight against common sense & increasing positive public opinion toward cannabis, to cash in & exploit millions of harmless cannabis users by attempting to convince them that raising enornmous amounts of revenue by bleeding their bank accounts dry is doing them a favor. This seems extremely subversive & sinister to me. Can someone with a brain, please! Convince me otherwise!?

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Money influences policy at the moment, and has done for some time. Let's not pretend otherwise.

Diversion, in my opinion, is of course a more economically sound policy, but ironically, due to what I said above, our policies instead overload our criminal justice system with non-violent offenders BECAUSE SOME GROUP/CONGLOMERATE/CORPORATION DOES IN FACT MAKE MONEY FROM IT. And they pay their bitches to do their bidding, aka politicians and the Australian political 'system'.

... but that aside, diversion, and advocating for it, in my view, continues to give implicit consent to our current prohibitionist drug policy model.

The repeal of the prohibition of cannabis, and full legalisation is the responsible choice.

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Hi all - just an update to say we've had over 730 people take part in our national cannabis diversion survey! That is incredible! But we would like to get at least 1000 people.

So if you are aged 17 and over and have been detected by the Australian police in the last 3-9 months for a minor cannabis offence (cannabis use or possession) please take part now. Please let any eligible friends know about the survey too.

www.cannabisdiversionsurvey.com.au

The survey will go until mid November 2014.

As for why we are doing this research - police diversion for cannabis has occurred in Australia for many years - i.e. its not a 'new' policy. But we still don't have much knowledge about the impacts of giving someone a criminal charge vs a diversion option. This is not good if you want to support and maintain diversion schemes OR to push for broader drug law reform. So please help us fill this gap in knowledge.

Cheers and thanks again!

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As for why we are doing this research - police diversion for cannabis has occurred in Australia for many years - i.e. its not a 'new' policy. But we still don't have much knowledge about the impacts of giving someone a criminal charge vs a diversion option. This is not good if you want to support and maintain diversion schemes OR to push for broader drug law reform. So please help us fill this gap in knowledge.

Cheers and thanks again!

You don't have much knowledge on how the impacts of charging someone, and labeling them a criminal/felon/offender throughout our entire society, differs from telling them to not do it again?

I would've thought the answer was self-evident.

Begin with the still fairly recent Report of the Global Commission on Drug policy 2011

http://www.responsiblechoice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/56924096-Global-Commission-Report.pdf

and work your way forward.

Plenty of reading on my site amongst the resources and references stuff too that is earlier Australia specific research from the Institute of Criminology and the NDRI as well I think. :huh:

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I think they meant "data", not "knowledge". Science needs to substantiate the former if the masses are to gain the latter.

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