Penington Institute has unveiled a mock licensed cannabis outlet in Fitzroy to launch its Cannabis Control Plan, which lays out a roadmap for the legalisation and regulation of cannabis for adult personal use in Victoria.
Speaking to ABC’s 7:30, Dr. Jake Dizard, Policy and Research Lead at Penington Institute, explained that the store is deliberately understated.
It’s not designed to have flashy advertising, it’s not designed to have any promotion. In fact it’s specifically designed to avoid those things and present an almost boring type of space.
The mock shop highlights the Penington’s vision for a tightly controlled market that removes cannabis from the criminal underworld and prioritises health, safety, and community benefit.
Right now the government is spending hundred of millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars, enforcing cannabis laws and a substantial portion of that money could be reallocated to fighting more serious crime.
The mock shop, open to the public for a week, was intended to spark conversation and show what a regulated cannabis market could look like. No cannabis was sold at the site.
Penington Institute have a plan for control that is grounded in health and safety principles, informed by international models, and designed to ensure any future legal market is balanced, sensible and well regulated, free from the influence of organised crime.
