Thousands of people have signed a petition calling on the Australian government to reschedule weed.
Loads of efforts are being made to downgrade the illegality of the substance as attitudes slowly change.
There have been bills introduced at the state level as well as financial modelling proving how beneficial legalisation would be to the country's coffers.
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The organiser of this official petition is calling for cannabis to be downgraded from a Schedule 8 drug to a Schedule 3 substance.
"Make it legal to use, cultivate and possess marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes," the petition states. "Regulate cannabis products bought sold and produced in Australia for medical and or recreational use."
They argue that the weed bought 'off the street' can often be low quality, tainted and unhealthy.
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Rescheduling the drug would allow the government to regulate the quality of the product as it would be permitted to be sold in shops and therefore would have to uphold a certain standard.
The organiser adds that prohibition has caused a 'negative effect on the public due the black market and unregulated products being sold'.
They argue the drug shouldn't be outlawed because the benefits related to mental health, less organised crime, and more tax money outweigh the negatives of people abusing the product.
"Decriminalisation would give Australians an opportunity to supply and manufacture quality cannabis products for domestic and international sales," they say on the petition.
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"Regulated cannabis products have proven to be cleaner and safer option than cannabis sold on the black market."
Figures from The State of Legal Marijuana Markets report from 2019 showed Canada received $1.3 billion in tax revenue from the drug and experts reckon Australia could have similar figures.
Investment strategist Mark Bernberg told nine.com.au: "It's a product very much like alcohol and gambling that's recession proof because it's a product of recreational consumption for adults.
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"Colorado's state government's $1b in tax is not an insignificant number, with that money poured back into social support and upgrading schools, parks and public infrastructure."
But cannabis isn't the only drug that is facing calls to be rescheduled.
There's also been a push to reschedule magic mushrooms and MDMA in Australia.
Mind Medicine Australia submitted the first applications to Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in September last year in order to research psilocybin and ecstasy.
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Scientists are keen to see whether these two drugs could be used as treatments for mental health issues.
Mind Medicine Australia wrote on its website: "The rescheduling would move these medicines from Schedule 9 of the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (which deals with Prohibited Substances) to Schedule 8 (which deals with Controlled Medicines).
"The changes proposed by Mind Medicine Australia will not affect existing legal controls on illicit use or supply.
"The rescheduling will enable psychiatrists and specialist addiction physicians to more easily access these medicines to augment therapy for patients suffering from key mental illnesses such as depression, PTSD and for the depression and anxiety often associated with a terminal illness diagnosis (and hopefully in the future for substance abuse, OCD, anorexia and early stage dementia).
"It will also relieve a significant part of the regulatory burden associated with undertaking trials with these medicines in Australia."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Australia