The Legalise Cannabis South Australia Party prioritises immediate and long-term improvements in health and wellness, addressing ambulance ramping and mental health system pressures.
Key initiatives:
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Immediate Medical Cannabis Amnesty to allow patients to grow cannabis at home for personal medical use without prescriptions or penalties.
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Inject $200 million into mental health over four years, expanding community and inpatient services.
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Eliminate ambulance ramping through state- and federal-funded aged-care bed expansion and hospital patient-flow reforms.
1. Medical Cannabis Amnesty
Many South Australians rely on cannabis to manage chronic pain and mental health conditions, but high costs, specialist delays and recent Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) restrictions have cut off access for many patients.
Our proposed amnesty allows adults to grow cannabis at home for personal medicinal use without prescriptions or penalties. This supports people facing financial hardship, those unable to secure specialist appointments and families using cannabis to treat epilepsy, ADHD, autism and other conditions.
The amnesty restores fairness by ensuring patients can access safe, affordable treatment without being forced back into the illicit market.
Key Features:
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Home-grow amnesty for personal medicinal use
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No prescription or specialist approval required
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Supports patients facing financial hardship
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Helps those impacted by TGA prescribing crackdown
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Addresses access issues for mental health and neurological conditions
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Protects families using cannabis for epilepsy, ADHD, autism and Tourette’s
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Reduces reliance on the illicit market
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Promotes patient autonomy and treatment choice
2. Mental Health Investment
Goal: Reduce pressure on EDs and improve patient outcomes by strengthening both community-based services and inpatient supports.
Over four years, $200 million will be invested to expand community stepped-care pathways, ensuring earlier intervention and reducing avoidable hospital presentations ($70 million), while also delivering 30 new specialist inpatient and sub-acute beds—including capital costs and a two-year operating subsidy to increase system capacity for people requiring higher-level care ($60 million).
To further prevent emergency demand and provide rapid alternatives to ED attendance, the policy funds enhanced crisis-diversion programs and mobile clinical response teams capable of delivering timely, on-site assessment and support ($40 million).
A dedicated workforce package will modernise training, grow the specialist pipeline and extend outreach services to regional and remote areas ($20 million). Finally, the plan establishes robust evaluation, data systems and digital care platforms to ensure accountability, continuous improvement and measurable reductions in ED load across the state ($10 million).
Policy Actions and Allocation ($200 million over 4 years):
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Community stepped-care expansion: $70 million
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30 additional specialist inpatient/sub-acute beds (capital + 2-year operating subsidy): $60 million
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Crisis diversion and mobile response teams: $40 million
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Workforce training and regional outreach: $20 million
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Evaluation and digital platforms: $10 million
(State-funded, additional to existing commitments)
3. Ambulance Ramping
Goal: Eliminate ambulance offload delays within four years.
By expanding capacity, strengthening access to primary and urgent care and improving patient flow across the entire health system.
The initiative delivers a 50/50 State-Federal funded build of 1,000 aged-care and step-down beds to relieve hospital congestion, supported by a Federal-funded roll out of nine additional urgent care and 24-hour GP clinics to divert non-emergency cases from Emergency Departments (EDs).
Comprehensive hospital patient-flow reforms—including stronger discharge coordination and expanded allied-health teams—will increase efficiency and reduce unnecessary bed block.
While major expansion of community nursing and home-support services will prevent avoidable admissions and facilitate faster discharge.
These coordinated reforms aim for a 100% reduction in ambulance offload hours within four years, with a total South Australian budget impact of $640 million, comprising:
Costings (SA State Budget Impact):
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Operating subsidies for beds: $240 million
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Clinic operational subsidies: $160 million
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Hospital reforms and workforce: $40 million
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Community nursing and home-support: $30 million
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50/50 State-Federal funding split for 1,000 aged-care/step-down beds: $170 million
Policy Actions:
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50/50 State and Federal funded build of 1,000 aged-care/step-down beds
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Federal-funded roll out of nine additional urgent care/24-hour GP clinics
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Hospital patient-flow reforms including discharge coordination and allied-health teams
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Community nursing and home-support expansion
Target:
100% reduction in ambulance offload hours within four years.