Why Young People Need a Say in Cannabis Reform
Written by Daniel Robinson Croft. Originally written 2024. Updated October 2026.
In March 2024, I received a scholarship to represent young people from Australia at the 67th session of the UNODC Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND67) in Vienna. CND is where international drug treaties and scheduling decisions are reviewed. Government delegates and civil society groups from around the world take part, and advocates host side events on drug policy, prevention, harm reduction and human rights.
On the final day, I spoke at a side event called “The Truth About Young People and Cannabis: Fostering Intersectional Perspectives to Youth-Centric Approaches in Cannabis Regulation/Legalisation.” It was organised by México Unido Contra la Delincuencia (MUCD) and co-sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (Australia, Canada, US and International), Drug Policy Alliance and Fields of Green for ALL.
My message was simple. Young people who consume cannabis should have a real say in the decisions that affect them, and the harm reduction information made for them should be shaped by people who share their experience.
What it looks like at home
Non-medical cannabis is still illegal in Victoria, and medical cannabis is available with a prescription. Police can give cautions or diversions for small amounts, but in my work with young people I’ve seen how unevenly that plays out. Young people from marginalised communities often end up having more contact with police over cannabis than others do.
Even when nobody goes to court, that contact can follow a young person around. It can get in the way of study, work and the goals they’re working towards, and it can make asking for help feel less safe.
The conversation is changing. Who’s in it?
Attitudes to cannabis in Australia have shifted a lot. In the 2022-23 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 45% of people supported legalisation, up from 25% in 2010. In Victoria, legalisation is now a regular part of political debate.
What’s still missing is young people in the room when decisions get made. Young people with lived and living experience of cannabis understand their own lives and their communities better than anyone, and that knowledge should shape policy, not just be consulted on at the end.
At CND, I proposed a youth lived and living experience working group. Young people would lead it, drawn from a range of communities, with researchers and academics alongside them, and with proper support and mentoring throughout.
Meeting people where they are
Legal or not, some young people will consume cannabis. Prevention has its place and can help delay when someone first tries it, but it won’t reach everyone. For the people who do choose to consume, the most useful thing we can offer is honest, practical information that helps them look after themselves.
When I was at school, our drug education covered alcohol, and it included ways to drink more safely. There was nothing like that for cannabis. Practical information made by young people who consume would have saved my friends and me from a lot of avoidable harm, and from a lot of the shame that came with it.
Nothing about us, without us
There’s a saying from the harm reduction movement that I come back to often: “Nothing about us, without us.” For Let’s Budvocate, that means nothing about cannabis consumers, without cannabis consumers. It applies to law reform, and it applies just as much to the services and resources built for people who consume.
Where Let’s Budvocate came from
Not long after I got home from Vienna, I started building Let’s Budvocate. It began as the resource I wish I’d had: practical cannabis information made with people who consume, for people who consume. Today that’s Buducation, our free cannabis education hub, alongside the Cutback Pack and the LB Framework.
Learned something along the way that you think others should know? Get in touch. Community knowledge is a big part of how Buducation grows.
