Help with Australian Law please...

[Junks]

Hi all!

Say I get busted for possession of a personal amount of drugs I bought on the streets, in this case .2grams of heroin and I get dealt as a user and get the slap on the wrist and sent on my way with a simple fine....does this change if I get the heroin through the mail?

Like does my charge change from simple "personal possession" to anything more serious simply because I received it through the mail? Again in .2grams as the first situation on the street. Thanks.

I just want to know the law, I am not that dumb to do anything like this in real life.

 

[lovepsychadelics]

Not a criminal lawyer but I'd imagine the same as on the street, unless they raid you and take your laptop/pc/usb stick and find you have made a series of transactions and then you may be in more strife. DO NOT RISK IT. I assume you are referring to domestic mail not an international delivery. If international that is importation and far more serious than getting done with a couple of hits on a street corner. See link at bottom of page kindly posted by
The_horz.

Would be the same as the street corner scenario if you were caught. Still is it worth it? Also maybe delete some of your inbox would be a good idea.

 

[drug_mentor]

I really don't know the answer to this, if it comes from a domestic source then there is a reasonable chance the law might be the same but if it is coming from outside the country then you are breaking importation laws which is quite a bit more serious. I don't know if there is a law against abusing the postal service or domestic delivery of drugs or whatever.

Since you aren't asking anything about how to break the law but just what the law is I am happy to let this thread stay open. Hopefully fortehlulz takes notice of it, he came back briefly not too long ago but I haven't noticed him post in a little while, if anyone could answer this it would be him.

 

[tentram]

im sure hed answer it for a small fee but would prefer details of the big fish in town

 

[The_horz]

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4369.asp

 

[Junks]

Thanks for that link horz. I understand that importing from overseas can lead to extra charges, but I am specifically referring to domestic mail. Say instead of buying it on the street in Sydney, mail arrives from someone living in Sydney to a house that is also in the same area. Can this lead to any other extra charges because it was sent by mail?

 

[Biscuit]

Offences relating to domestic mail are federal offences and enacted by the Commonwealth Parliament. There are probably offences which do relate to the transportation of prohibited goods, in particular illicit drugs, in domestic mail and which ordinarily would be the responsibility of the Australian Federal Police to investigate and charge. However, it is simply much easier for your state police to charge you under your own state's drug laws.

You could be charged with possession if the package is received, attempted possession if it isn't or conspiracy to possess if there is evidence about you making an agreement with another person to be supplied with drugs via post. Another thing to keep in mind is that, for example, a NSW resident who sends drugs to WA in the post can actually be charged under the applicable WA law for supplying those drugs. This is because there is a sufficient connection with this person's act of supply in NSW to Western Australia and so the WA laws can be used to charge someone for that act, even though they never set foot on WA soil.

The reality is the AFP is focused on importations and they are not going to get involved in the small time domestic posting of drugs when the various states can properly police this. This makes sense when the best evidence concerning an offence like this is generally obtained via a person taking possession of the drugs, which a state offence adequately covers. Although when it comes to sentencing, I can see that some judges or magistrates might consider it an aggravating factor if the possession or attempted possession of drugs was being facilitated via Australia's postal system. How a person came to have drugs in their possession and the level of sophistication that they might have employed to obtain the drugs is not an irrelevant factor in sentencing, this factor no doubt increasing in its impact as the amount of drugs involved increases.