Seeing as it's asked quite often... here's my contribution to the cause

This is only applicable to Victoria and has been taken from the 'Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981(Vic)'(DPCSA). Seeing as most bluelighters are Victorian, and I've only studied Victorian law and can't really be fucked typing up the legislation from other territories, I'm only going to type up the Victorian statute law. However the laws in the other states are probably not that much different(as far as I am aware as most laws reflect the general policies of the Commonewealth).
DoD: Drugs of Dependence- Listed under schedule 11 of the DPCSA
Use:
Section 75 DPCSA-
$300 or up to 1 year max. penalty
Section 70 DPCSA-
Use:
(a) smoke DoD
(b) inhale fumes caused by heating or burning DoD
(c) introduce a DoD into the body of a person.
Trafficking:
Section 70 DPCSA-
(a) prepare DoD for trafficking.
(b) manufacture a DoD or
(c) Sell, exchange, agree to sell, offer for sale or have in possession for sale a DoD.
This section is incredibly important as it shows that there is no 'magical quantity' per se(which is absolute and overiding) but rather if you're caught trying to sell even one pill you can be charged with trafficking. Trafficking is about the comercial movement of, rather than the quantity of drugs. Where people get confused is:
Section 71(1)DPCSA-
A person who without being authorized or licensed by this act or the rgualtions to do so trafficks or attempts to traffick in a DoD is guilty of an indictable offence and liable-
(a) where the court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the offence is committed in relation to a quantity of a DoD that is not less than the commercial quantity applicable to that DoD.
Section 71(1a)(i)DPCSA-
up to 25 years max. penalty plus
Section 71(1)(1a)(ii) DPCSA-
as well as up to $25,000 in fines.
and
Section 73(2) DPCSA-
Where a person has in his possession....a DoD in a quantity that is not less than the traffickable amount applicable to that DoD, the possession of that DoD is prima facie* evidence of trafficking by that person.
Under schedule 11 of the DPCSA the minimum comercial quanity's required for a court to assume you are trafficking are:
LYSERGIC ACID 0·01g
3,4-METHYLENEDIOXY-N-ETHYLAMPHETAMINE 2.0g
MORPHINE 2.0g
METHADONE 7.0g
MESCALINE 50g
PSILOCYBIN 0.1g
CANNIBIS 250g or 10 plants
*[Prima Facie(stupid latin lawyer term): on the face of it]
Basically, you can be caught with the magical quantity,(listed under schedule 11), and if you can prove to the court that it was all for personal use then you get away with just possesssion(but definately with a more severe charge than if the amount had been only small).
Note: If you are caught with one or two pills don't say they're for someone else. That's not only possession you'll be charged with but trafficking too.
which brings me to my next point:
Possession with intent to traffick:
Section 71A Possession of a substance, material, document or equipment for trafficking in a DoD.
A person who....possesses a substance, material, document containing instructions relating relating to the preparation, cultivation or manufactue of a DoD or equipment with the intention of using the substance, material, document or equipment for the purpose of trafficking in a DoD is guilty of an indictable offence. 10yr max. penalty.
If you're caught with equipment for making drugs or the drugs themselves and your intention is to prepare fore sale or to sell then you can be put away for a lower level of trafficking. It's also illegal to have in your possession a document relating to the manufacture of drugs.
Possession:
Section 73(1)DPCSA-
A person who... has or attempts to have in his possession a DoD is guilty of an indicatable offence and shall be liable-
(a) where the court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that-
(b) the offence was not committed for any purpose related to trafficking in that DoD.
$4000 or up to 5 years max. penalty
(This piece of legisaltion gives me the shits. The court only has to be pretty sure you did it. Normally, with say murder, they are required to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that you committed the offence, they must be positive. This reflects the governmental policy on drug offenders...they really don't like them. About %75 of inmates are in prison for drug related offences.)
Section 5 DPCSA-
Any substance shall be deemed... to be in the possession of a person so long as it is upon any land or premises occupied by him or is used, enjoyed or controlled by him in any place whatsoever, unless the person satisfies the court to the contrary.
R(The Commonwealth) v Clarke and Johnstone: The Supreme Court of Victoria held that the effect of this section is that a person proven to be in occupation of the relevant land is deemed to be in possession of the substance unless that person proves he or she wasn't in possession of it.
Pretty fucked up provision really. Rather than the court having to prove you guilty you have to prove your innocence(known as a reverse onus provision).
I'll edit and add some more stuff later when I feel motivated again, and perhaps some stuff about illegal search and seizures. My brain hurts now.
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There is no spoon.
<A HREF="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~pyang/base/allyourbase.swf"
[This message has been edited by Prometheus (edited 14 March 2001).]

Thanks for that, but when does possesion become posession with intent to sell? (I noticed you have trafficking, which is commercial quantities, but not what I thought was the intermediate step, poss. with intent)? and for poss. with intent can you be caught with say 10 pills and be charged with intent to sell even though they haven't caught you attempting to sell, just possesing it?
thanks

Mr. E-
Possession with intent to sell is a lesser offence than attempting to traffick. For it to be an attempt the police would have to bust you just as you are about to hand the drugs over.
To be convicted for harbouring an intent to sell would be up to a jury. They would have to decide what your intent was at the time you were caught.
Here's a scenario- you are caught with ten pills on you and a list of names of people and how many pills they are each recieving. The list would provide evidence of intent to sell but it would not be attempting to traffick untill you actually tried to move the drugs.

I see, so 10 pills on your person would be very unlikely to be anything more than posession so long as you didn't have anything to make them think you were selling them (like seperate bags). I guess then the amount which takes you from posession to trafficking is the magic number we need to know more than anything.
Another question: if you have more than 1 drug, is it all put together to make a serious charge, like say 10 pills and a gram of speed, would that make it more likely to be a more serious offense?
[This message has been edited by Mr E. Moore (edited 14 March 2001).]

sheeeeezzz....if only you cared this much about the rest of your course dude (c;
hehehe nah i'm just shitty that the only thing i get outta my course is that i can draw you a preedy picture of a pill, and can design the best container to store it in...
anyway, thanks dude, i know you always tell me about this shit and i take it for granted, but i figure that not everyone out there in BL land has someone to tell them this shit, and its rather handy to dispell myths/shit people see on nypd blue.
keep it up, and yeah, i promise they're all for me officer (c;
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going back to romford...
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You can be charged wih intent to sell or supply if you are caught with implements to distribute the drugs along with the drugs themselves (i.e scales, packet of bags etc).
You can also be charged if the drugs are weighed up in a number of bags (i.e you could get caught with 0.8g of speed in one bag and say it is for personal use, but the same amount in 8 identical bags equal quantity will almost definitely get you slapped with intent to sell/supply)
As far as names go, anyone stupid enough to write down full names, deserves to get caught.
Write initials (with no dot in between the letters) on one sheet of paper and the amounts listed in the same order on another sheet of paper with only the numbers written (i.e no dollar signs etc). Make sure the paper and pens used are different and keep the 2 pieces apart, then see them try and link the two ....hahaha.
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Is Don, Is Good
[This message has been edited by Don Corleone (edited 14 March 2001).]