With a 2021 election looming, Western Australians have a new pro-pot party to consider joining – the Legalise Cannabis WA Party.
Legalise Cannabis WA (LCWA) is a sibling party to LCQ, a Queensland-based party founded earlier this year. LCQ ran candidates in 23 electorates during the Queensland Election, gaining over 5% of the vote in some areas and 3 – 4% in others. The pro-pot party was registered just one month before the Queensland election.
As Western Australia’s election will be held on March 31, 2021, LCWA are looking for candidates and members in preparation. The party is hoping to gain similar results to their sibling-party. To register as a political party, LCWA are looking for 500 members by December 31st. These candidates must be registered to vote within WA.
In an announcement published by HEMP, Gail Hester wrote that LCWA “doesn’t have any delusions about winning”, but are looking to secure one or two seats on the cross bench of the upper and lower houses.
The goal is mainly to raise awareness of the issue and use it as a legitimate platform to show just how many people want an end to the drug war and to prohibition in WA.
The party is also looking to give voters candidates who support the cannabis industry and medical cannabis patients. According to the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, over 41% of Australians support the legalising of cannabis – up from 37% in 2016.
LCWA is state-based party, meaning Australians who are members of the HEMP party or other federal parties are eligible to join without LCWA impacting their memberships.
The party will be launching a website soon, but you can find LCWA’s Facebook group here or sign up here.
With the majority of Australians now supporting cannabis legalisation, we wish much success to LCWA and their mission to impact change.