Page 4057 - Week 15 - Thursday, 17 December 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Thursday, 17 December 1992
___________________________
MADAM SPEAKER (Ms McRae) took the chair at 10.30 am and read the prayer.
DRUGS OF DEPENDENCE (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 4) 1992
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (10.30): Madam Speaker, I present the Drugs of Dependence (Amendment) Bill (No. 4) 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MR BERRY: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Madam Speaker, under the Drugs of Dependence Act 1989 a drug of dependence or a substance prohibited under the Act and seized by the Australian Federal Police is delivered to an analyst at the Government Analytical Laboratory of the Department of Health. The substance is then identified, certified for evidential purposes and retained by the Government Analyst pending an order for destruction or until all subsequent court action has been completed. Under the Act the Government Analyst has the responsibility for the storage and security of such substances.
Section 194 of the Act provides for the destruction of excess quantities of a seized substance in relation to which proceedings have been instituted. The intention is to avoid the prolonged storage of a bulk amount of the substance until the completion of those legal proceedings. The Director of Public Prosecutions considers that certain provisions of section 194 of the Act are unworkable, and because of this he has not made any applications to the court for a court order for the pre-trial destruction of any drugs or substances. This has led, Madam Speaker, to storage problems with the accumulation of seized cannabis.
There is also concern that the Act does not cater for special situations when a large plantation of cannabis is seized. Regardless of the size of the seizure, the police are required to harvest and deliver the entire crop to the Government Analyst for identification, certification and storage. This Bill amends the Act to permit preliminary on-site destruction. The amendments to the Act are based on the relevant provisions of the New South Wales Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985.
This Bill amends the Drugs of Dependence Act so that, where no charges have been laid and where a quantity of cannabis is greater than the trafficable amount, the Government Analyst may, if he or she is of the opinion that the cannabis could not reasonably be securely stored pending an order of a magistrate for its destruction, order the destruction of an amount in excess of the trafficable quantity. This will be done only after ensuring that an analyst's certificate has
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .