POSTPONED: The case for common-sense cannabis law reform in Australia

Drinks with John Ryan

Hosted by Tony Nippard

Cannabis prohibition has been a slow-motion train wreck for Australia. Over decades, we've expended valuable police resources pursuing people who use cannabis in a non-medical capacity. Thousands of people are charged by police and prosecuted each year, causing significant social harm.

But while well intentioned, this approach has been a catastrophic public policy failure. It hasn't made a dent in the community's appetite for cannabis, which remains the nation's most commonly used illicit drug. Nor has it slowed the steady supply of cannabis, which crime gangs produce and sell at a mega profit.

Penington Institute is a national leader in drug policy and harm minimisation. We are delighted to welcome Melbourne Forum member and Penington Institute CEO, John Ryan, who will detail how Australia's current policy settings have failed to curb the risks associated with cannabis, and why we should embrace common-sense cannabis reform. John will step guests through the Institute's Cannabis Control Plan, an evidence-based blueprint for how governments can meet this challenge.

John Ryan is a leader in public health and safety.  As CEO of Penington Institute, he actively works to promote sensible approaches to drug use in the community including working with the media, and by providing expert advice including to governments.

John is a past member of the Victorian Government’s Medically Supervised Injecting Room Review Panel, and has previously worked as a university researcher, government policy adviser, and in frontline service delivery as a needle and syringe program worker.

John holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University. In 2012, he received a Churchill Fellowship to study ways to enhance public health approaches to drug policy. 

Please join fellow member John Ryan for an expert-led conversation on this controversial topic.