It is important that the coming four-day drug summit allows for a discussion about the legal and regulated cannabis market . As it now stands, even legitimate medicinal access can involve over-the-phone consultations and prescriptions, and a real failure in follow-up procedures. We must ensure access to cannabis is above board for practitioners and patients, and rationalisation and regulation of the industry are ensured before “players” take hold.
These extremes will, for example, inevitably boost the costs of food production, further increase insurance premiums, threaten water security, exacerbate bushfires and raise the peak demand for electricity during heatwaves. Unrelenting sea level rise, and its threat to public infrastructure and prime real estate, will add substantial costs. In this regard, tough political decisions are required to establish the degree to which the private sector is supported.