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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Legal implications of calling 000 related to drugs in Australia.

J

jaurk

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
710
Hello BL,
Just interested in what the legal implications would be if a friend would happen to be overdosing and needed instant medical attention through 000.

Are there anything things, such as they don't call police if they don't see "much" drugs.
Or they don't/do call police if they see drugs at all.
Or police only if the situation becomes out of control (dangerous violent etc.)

This is all I've been able to find:
http://www.police.qld.gov.au/Resources/Internet/services/documents/dlss.pdf

"COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRES
In many areas, these centres employ specialist drug and alcohol
workers. They can help with information, advice and referral.
Look in your phone book under Queensland Health.
IN EMERGENCIES, call Triple Zero (000), ring your doctor,
local hospital, or call for an ambulance.
If someone overdoses - call Triple Zero (000) for an ambulance
immediately, shake them & try to keep them awake, if they’re
unconscious and breathing turn them on their side, if they’re
not breathing - start mouth to mouth. Police are not
normally called to overdoses"

Any more information, or personal experience here?
 
Well firstly, if someone is in need of urgent medical attention the legal implications are irrelevant. Better to be busted than have a dead mate.


Secondly, ambos tend only to call poilce if they or anyone else in the area are in danger. They are not interested in policing.
 
3 to the 3 said:
Well firstly, if someone is in need of urgent medical attention the legal implications are irrelevant. Better to be busted than have a dead mate.


Secondly, ambos tend only to call poilce if they or anyone else in the area are in danger. They are not interested in policing.
Click to expand...

bold text = I absolutely agree.
The feelings you'd get with legal charges would be nothing compared to the grieving and sorrow felt by losing a mate.
And thanks for the reply, just expanding my knowledge base in-case these scenarios do occur.
 
Yeah dude, coppers only arrive on the scene when paramedics feel threatened/the telephone caller to 000 notified the Operator that he is acting violent/danger to himself or other people.

If you're that worried about coppers coming, don't be. It is not illegal to be under the influence of drugs in public, or even intoxicated offa that alcohol. The most a cop can do is throw your arse in the drunk tank till you sober up/call paramedics to come and get you.

Plus, police do need warrants to search houses, even if they believe that drugs are stashed in the house, they have no right under the PPRA 2000 to enter your premises. They do, however have the right to do a thorough search of your person/any backpacks etc., if they have beyond reasonable doubt that you have any illicit drugs on your person. Failure to comply is a crime, you'll have to spend a day in court, pay a fine etc.
 
Wow thank you so much for all of that great information, so concise!
 
I seem to remember hearing a number of times that the police WONT be called in the event of an overdose. so you wont have to worry about the cops coming.
 
I agree with everyone above regarding the situation in Aus.

I could be wrong but I seem to remember reading some time ago that in the US police are called to overdoses, and it creates all sorts of problems :\
 
Yeah agreed with all above, in WA where i live, police aren't
called to overdoses, or at least that's what i read somewhere.
 
golden rule number 1 ... Never call the police
golden rule number 2 ... Never talk to the police
golden rule number 3 ... Never trust the police
golden rule number 4 ... Refer to rules 1,2 & 3.
 
Firstly, if someone overdoses, DON'T HESITATE TO CALL AN AMBULANCE.

I was once told that ambulance and police share the same radio frequency, or at least can listen to the same ones as they often need to collaborate with one another. This could be complete crap though.

I was recently at a house where someone OD'd on fentanyl, 000 was called, ambulance arrived and no police showed up.
 
^ It wouldn't surprise me if police were able to hear the ambulance dispatch. Regardless, if the situation calls for it then 000 needs to be called and as others have said the police shouldn't turn up unless there is a risk to anyone at the scene.
 
Thanks guys, it was hard to find this info on the internet which has so much American information on it.
 
webbykevin said:
golden rule number 1 ... Never call the police
golden rule number 2 ... Never talk to the police
golden rule number 3 ... Never trust the police
golden rule number 4 ... Refer to rules 1,2 & 3.
Click to expand...

DoctorChemX said:
amen
Click to expand...

Dont call them when your house gets robbed or even yourself or if your car gets stolen or a similar situation happens. As far as i know doctors have confidentiality with patients and cannot give out information unless its a special circumstance.
 
Sustanon said:
Dont call them when your house gets robbed or even yourself or if your car gets stolen or a similar situation happens. As far as i know doctors have confidentiality with patients and cannot give out information unless its a special circumstance.
Click to expand...

My car got broken into last year and the police took 10 days to send someone to do fingerprints, when he showed up he said, "oh well its not really worth doing it now" and left
totally useless, NO NEVER CALL THEM.
 
May I ask what did they steal from your car? 10 days is a very long time, Im wondering why it took them so long?
 
Yeah they seem to be a bit lax with their CSI-style investigations :)

An old friend of mine was living in a rough neighbourhood for a while...there was this notorious female who was about 25, who had been around the area for a long time and was known to police for her whoring, thievery and IV drug use. One day her and her two brothers rocked up at my friends door, threatened that they'd bash her if she didn't hand over all her cash...so she handed over the $50 she had on her. She then called police and they came out and had a look around, spoke to some people to see if they had seen anything, probably about 15 minutes....they then said that they'd have forensics come over some time that night to do fingerprints on the door. They never came...she contacting police again and they said there really wasn't anything they could do (which is probably true I guess, even if her fingerprints were found I don't think they could have charged her?)

About a week later she came home to find her door stolen (wtf?) and it looked like someone had slept in her bed (she had been staying elsewhere). No idea if it's related...cops really didn't seem to care (apparently)

I'm a big fan of the police personally. Have damn good experiences with them...no doubt there's some power trippers, I guess I've just been lucky.
 
Sustanon said:
May I ask what did they steal from your car? 10 days is a very long time, Im wondering why it took them so long?
Click to expand...

My Stereo, My amp, My gps, all my cd's. The car was parked in my driveway and I found it with the door open one morning, they could have done prints that morning and would have most likely got something, 10 days later I had been using the car for everyday running around and had had the kids and friends in and out of it heaps, so like I said when I told the guy that came to do the prints that, he said had no idea how long ago the crime had taken place and said that after 10 days it was pointless, which was more than likely correct.

However i bet if I had said on the first phone call, someone has broken into my car and they seem to have dropped a bag of pot on the floor they would have been here in 10 minutes.
 
Sustanon said:
As far as i know doctors have confidentiality with patients and cannot give out information unless its a special circumstance.
Click to expand...

I don't know exactly what the laws are, would be interesting to look them up, but from how I have had it explained to me several times they are only allowed to share the information if either yourself or someone else is at risk of harm.
 
Mr Blonde said:
I don't know exactly what the laws are, would be interesting to look them up, but from how I have had it explained to me several times they are only allowed to share the information if either yourself or someone else is at risk of harm.
Click to expand...

well in NSW it would be the HEALTH RECORDS AND INFORMATION PRIVACY ACT 2002.

I haven't really read much of it but its clear that the cops are exempt from the Act. Though its not clear what the exact "special exceptions" are that would require a medical practinoner to disclose private medical records.

The other thing would be to read this against the Privacy Act which is a commonwealth ACT

I found this out from interesting paper on the lawlink site:

Statute

9.12 While various statutes touch on the issue of medical confidentiality,16 the most comprehensive statutory statements are found in privacy legislation. Commonwealth and State privacy legislation regulates the collection, storage, use and disclosure of health information by public and private sector health service providers. At the federal level, the relevant legislation is the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).17 This Act contains ten National Privacy Principles, which set the minimum standards for patient privacy.18 Principle 2 imposes an indirect statutory duty of confidentiality on health professionals by providing that information must not be disclosed unless certain, specified circumstances exist.19

9.13 In New South Wales, the privacy of individuals’ health information is addressed by the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW), which commences on 1 July 2004. It covers every public or private sector organisation that is a health service provider or that collects, holds or uses health information. The primary way in which it regulates the handling of health information is by requiring that these organisations comply with the Health Privacy Principles.20 Principles 10 and 11 regulate the use and disclosure of health information by establishing a basic prohibition on non-consensual use or disclosure, which is accompanied by an exhaustive list of circumstances in which non-consensual use or disclosure is permissible.21 Accordingly, like the Privacy Act 1988, the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 imposes an indirect statutory duty of confidentiality on medical practitioners.

Permissible disclosure of health information

9.14 While the duty of confidentiality is an essential element of the relationship between medical practitioners and their patients, the duty is not absolute. This reflects the realities of medical practice and the existence of competing interests, such as the public interest in detecting child abuse. In an effort to achieve a balance between confidentiality and practicality or other interests, the law permits, and sometimes compels, disclosure of confidential health information. There are four particular circumstances in which the law concerning permissible disclosure of young people’s health information may require change or clarification:

when parents request disclosure of their child’s health information;
when the consent of the patient renders disclosure permissible;
when disclosure is authorised by the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW); and
when the public interest in preventing harm to a young person requires disclosure.
Click to expand...
 
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