poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 11,543
Aus - Amendments bring tougher drug penalties
The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to allow for much tougher penalties for people caught with the chemicals needed to make drugs.
The Crimes Amendment Bill will mean that a person in possession of a substance that can be made into a drug will be presumed to be selling that drug, no matter how small the quantity, and will face the tougher penalties for dealing or trafficking, rather than merely for personal use.
Attorney-General Simon Corbell dismissed criticism from the ACT Greens that the laws do away with the presumption of innocence and breach the Human Rights Act.
"There are reasonable limitations on these rights if it's about protecting the community more broadly and that's what this offence is about," he said.
"People who manufacture drugs are committing a serious offence and the law should be able to be effectively enforced."
The new law has reversed the onus of proof so that people found with drug pre-cursor chemicals will now have to prove they were not manufacturing drugs for sale.
With a vid -
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-09/amendments-bring-tougher-drug-penalties/4619050
The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to allow for much tougher penalties for people caught with the chemicals needed to make drugs.
The Crimes Amendment Bill will mean that a person in possession of a substance that can be made into a drug will be presumed to be selling that drug, no matter how small the quantity, and will face the tougher penalties for dealing or trafficking, rather than merely for personal use.
Attorney-General Simon Corbell dismissed criticism from the ACT Greens that the laws do away with the presumption of innocence and breach the Human Rights Act.
"There are reasonable limitations on these rights if it's about protecting the community more broadly and that's what this offence is about," he said.
"People who manufacture drugs are committing a serious offence and the law should be able to be effectively enforced."
The new law has reversed the onus of proof so that people found with drug pre-cursor chemicals will now have to prove they were not manufacturing drugs for sale.
With a vid -
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-09/amendments-bring-tougher-drug-penalties/4619050
