<P> According to Jiggens, by 1977 there was again talk of decriminalisation of cannabis in New South Wales, following the decriminalisation of cannabis in nine US states . The Joint Committee upon Drugs of the NSW Parliament recommended the removal of jail sentences for personal use of cannabis, and NSW Premier Neville Wran outlined a plan to remove jail sentences for people convicted and for possessing cannabis for personal use . He said that cannabis use was widespread and that "tens of thousands of parents whose sons and daughters smoke marijuana" would not want their children to carry "the stigma of being a jailed, convicted criminal". </P> <P> The disappearance of local political and community leader Donald Mackay in Griffith, NSW, in July 1977 placed the issue of the nexus between illicit drug production, organised crime and police corruption before the public; this was due to Mackay's revelations about large - scale marijuana growing in the Riverina area . His inquiries led to the largest cannabis seizure in Australian history at Coleambally, 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Griffith, in November 1975 . The plantation spread over 31 acres (13 ha) and was estimated to be capable of producing 60 tonnes of cannabis . The NSW Royal Commission into Drug Trafficking (the Woodward Inquiry) was sparked by Mackay's disappearance, and the story was brought to life as an acclaimed television miniseries Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities . </P> <P> In August 1976, NSW Police conducted a predawn raid on the Tuntable Falls Co-operative, located just south of Nimbin; a few weeks later, the Cedar Bay commune, located in far northern Queensland, was raided by Queensland Police . Joh Bjelke - Petersen defended the police action (including the burning of houses on the commune), declaring he was "tough on drugs". His accomplice in the Cedar Bay raid was the young John Howard (then Minister for Business), who later served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2007 . This would develop into an international news story . </P> <P> In terms of the broader population, cannabis was not widely used in Australia until the 1970s . Legislation reflected increased usage of cannabis; in 1985, the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse was introduced, which was an assessment of illicit drug use among the general population . Prior to 1985, it was concluded that cannabis use amongst Australians rose from the early 1970s throughout the 1980s . In 1994 the Australian National Task Force on Cannabis noted that the social harm of cannabis prohibition was greater than the harm from cannabis itself . </P>

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