Go the red tape train - aka - Australian politics/laws.
If anything, during this difficult time, the Federal Government should be fast tracking legislation on the red tape stranglehold that could be a booming industry, as seen in other countries....
Months after the ACT decriminalised cannabis possession,
growers still face challenges
Difficulties complying with the law
The requirement that plants be grown outdoors, where they are a target for thieves, is one of a number of complaints cannabis users have with the ACT laws.
"You can grow cannabis, but it's illegal to buy the seeds," says long-time cannabis legalisation advocate Jason Foster.
"You can grow four cannabis plants [per household] but you can only have 50 grams, which is less than what one plant will produce."
The complaints are nothing new to ACT Labor MLA Michael Pettersson, who introduced the legislation in 2018.
"The model we've got in place in the ACT isn't perfect. It addresses possession but it doesn't address supply," he says.
"The fundamental problem we face is that our ability to legislate in this space is limited... to deal with supply we're going to need changes at the Commonwealth level."
As well as being restricted by federal law, the ACT legislation conflicts directly with Commonwealth cultivation and possession laws.
In October last year Attorney-General Christian Porter warned the Commonwealth law "[was] still valid law in the ACT", but so far no legal challenge has been mounted.
"The time for that has come and gone," says Mr Pettersson.
"There was a lot of sabre-rattling at the time, but ultimately it came to nothing."
ACT Police data obtained by The Drum shows there has not been any significant change to detections of THC — the main psychoactive compound in cannabis — in roadside drug tests since the laws came into force on January 31.