Keppel candidate’s plan to free up legal system

Society can prosper from the legalisation of cannabis in a number of ways, according to this candidate.

ELECTION CONTENDER: Legalise Cannabis Queensland's candidate for Keppel Jimmy Dockery believes there is much to be gained from ending the criminalisation of cannabis.

KNOCKING back beers on the weekend with his mates, Jimmy Dockery often talked about starting up their political party and now he’s put his money where his mouth is, taking a leap into the deep end.

As the recently endorsed candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Queensland party in Keppel, Mr Dockery admitted he was “very green” to the world of politics and he was still trying to get his head around a lot of the information.

The Lammermoor-based single father-of-two has worked in a number of jobs including the trucking industry and in security.

His fledgling political career started through a conversation with the LCQ’s candidate for Rockhampton Laura Barnard.

“It just all happened in such a rush. I hadn’t even heard of this party until two months ago. It’s exciting and weird,” Mr Dockery said.

“(Ms Barnard) told me she was running for that party and I thought ‘woah, that sounds pretty good actually’ and I said to her who do I vote for down in Keppel and she said we don’t have anyone, so I put my hand up.”

Due to it being illegal, Mr Dockery said he didn’t personally partake in using cannabis but said he could recognise the health benefits for those he’d seen suffering from chronic pain, cancer and arthritis.

Having worked at the Rockhampton Magistrates Court, he could envision the way the legal system could be unburdened by the drug’s legalisation, with police officers freed up to target dealers of harmful drugs like ice.

“Cannabis should be legalised. It’s just stupid that it’s not, in my eyes,” he said.

“You just have to look at the statistics for the number of cannabis cases going through court or the number of people locked up in jail, it was something like 40 per cent going through.

“I believe that alcohol is definitely worse than cannabis.”

This opinion was informed by his 15 years working in security where he said it was the people who drank alcohol who were the ones who made trouble, “not the stoners”.

By removing red tape on hemp, he could see Australia’s manufacturing and agricultural industries prospering, producing a range of products including paper, clothes and furniture.