Victoria's independent financial watchdog has put the value of the state's illicit cannabis trade at a minimum of A$1 billion in 2022, a finding that reform advocates say bolsters the case for legalising personal use.
The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) calculated that Victorians spent between $1.02bn and $1.27bn on illegal cannabis during the year — a number that drug law reformers say exposes the failure of prohibition.
The figures draw on data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, and the most recent National Drug Strategy Household Survey, and are set to be cited by Legalise Cannabis Party MPs Rachel Payne and David Ettershank during an upper house debate later this month on their plans to legalise personal use.
The PBO's analysis factored in current street prices alongside total consumption volumes across the state, arriving at estimates based on 84,700kg of cannabis consumed.
Legalise Cannabis Victoria, which commissioned the PBO report to examine the scale of the illegal market, said the numbers "clearly demonstrate that prohibition is a failed policy and justifies the need to regulate cannabis."
Party officials also pointed to the National Drug survey, which found that nearly 80% of Victorians believe the laws need to change, as further context for the figures.
“What the PBO report shows us, and these are conservative figures, is that the illicit cannabis industry is alive and well in Victoria,” Payne said.
“We already have a cannabis market [but] it just happens to be an illicit one. People often say cannabis is a gateway drug, but the drug dealer is really the gateway to much more harmful, unknown products. Let’s get on with reducing harm by allowing the consumer to grow their own.
“Regulating cannabis is a global movement. Let’s get profits out of the hands of criminals by allowing ordinary Victorians the ability to possess, grow and share personal-use cannabis.”
Fellow Legalise Cannabis MP David Ettershank added: “In a cost-of-living crisis, rather than entering the illicit market, Victorians will be better off with a regulated environment, not just financially but our community will be far safer too.
“Why should someone risk arrest, criminalisation and their livelihood buying illicit cannabis when they could grow it legally and safely at home?
“This is a billion-dollar illicit market that only exists because of the failure of successive state governments to demonstrate a little political courage and reform the laws.”
Under the party's Regulation of Adult (Personal Use) of Cannabis Bill 2023, adults would be allowed to cultivate up to six plants per household and hold up to 50 grams of cannabis, with the bill also permitting adults to gift up to 50 grams to one another.
The upper house debate is scheduled to take place on November 29.
