Page 4058 - Week 15 - Thursday, 17 December 1992
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been prepared under section 192 of the Act, that an amount in excess of a trafficable quantity has been retained and that the Chief Police Officer of the Australian Federal Police has notified the Government Analyst that all secondary evidence gathering procedures have been completed.
In the majority of cases and where the Government Analyst has not made an order for the destruction of seized cannabis, the Director of Public Prosecutions shall, on the first occasion that the charge is mentioned before a magistrate, make an application to the magistrate for the retention of a specified amount of cannabis. The magistrate will then make a determination whether to retain or destroy the quantity in excess of the specified amount, which would be no less than the trafficable quantity. The order for destruction of a specified amount of cannabis will be issued to the Government Analyst.
This Bill amends the Drugs of Dependence Act to provide a more workable procedure for the destruction of excess quantities of cannabis seized under the Act. Madam Speaker, I commend the Bill to the Assembly and present the explanatory memorandum for the Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Carnell) adjourned.
POISONS AND DRUGS (AMENDMENT) BILL 1992
MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (10.35): Madam Speaker, I present the Poisons and Drugs (Amendment) Bill 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MR BERRY: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Madam Speaker, this Bill amends the Poisons and Drugs Act 1978. It is the first of a package of three Bills which also includes the Poisons (Amendment) Bill 1992 and the Drugs of Dependence (Amendment) Bill (No. 5) 1992.
This package of Bills fulfils the Territory's commitment to the uniform scheduling of drugs and poisons throughout Australia given at the Australian Health Ministers Conference in June 1990. This is achieved by the Poisons and Drugs (Amendment) Bill 1992 adopting by reference schedules 1 to 8 of the standard for the uniform scheduling of drugs and poisons as recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council. This will obviate the need to amend the Poisons and Drugs Act 1978 at frequent intervals as the standard is revised and updated twice a year by council. This approach to uniformity of drugs and poisons scheduling was adopted in New South Wales in August 1991.
The Bill also introduces controls over the most dangerous poisons, which are listed in schedule 7. Some of these controls were previously in the Poisons Act 1933, but it was considered more appropriate for them to be in the Poisons and Drugs Act 1978. At the same time the controls have been updated and enhanced.
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