Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party
Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | LCWA |
| President | Fred Mulholland |
| Secretary | Aaron Cross |
| Founded | June 2020 |
| Ideology | Legalisation of cannabis |
| National affiliation | Legalise Cannabis Australia |
| Legislative Council | 2 / 36
|
| City of Rockingham | 1 / 13
|
| Website | |
| lcwaparty | |
The Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party (LCWA) is a political party registered in Western Australia. The party advocates for law reform in relation to cannabis.
History
The LCWA party is the sister party of the LCQ party and affiliate of the HEMP Party and Medical Cannabis Users Association of Australia (MCUA).
Following in the success of its sister party LCQ in the 2020 Queensland state election the Party was registered by the Western Australian Electoral Commission on 29 January 2021 to contest the 2021 Western Australian state election, at which two of its candidates – Brian Walker in East Metropolitan Region and Sophia Moermond in South-West Region – were elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council.
In February 2022, MPs from Legalise Cannabis Western Australia were the only elected representatives in the Western Australian Legislative Council to vote against imposing vaccine mandates on MPs. One of the party's MPs, Sophia Moermond, who had described the mandates as "medical apartheid", was subsequently suspended from parliament under the new rules.
Policies
The Party's policies are around the personal, medical and industrial uses of cannabis.
In particular, the Party believes:
- That government should legalise cannabis and introduce enlightened regulations around its supply and consumption
- That a hemp and cannabis industry should be developed and encouraged
- That indigenous participation in the industry should be encouraged and subsidised
- That access to medicinal cannabis should be easier and low cost
- That cheap testing of cannabis products by labs and scientists be facilitated
- That criminal convictions for possession of cannabis should be expunged
Electoral results
The party fielded candidates for the first time in the 2021 Western Australian state election and received two seats in the Legislative Council with the fifth largest number of votes (26,818) by party behind the Nationals. The party fielded a limited number of candidates in the Legislative Assembly and received 4,996 votes.