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New proposed Victorian law - drug trafficking mandatory sentencing

M

Mr. Gilmour

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 22, 2010
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2
Not sure if a thread has already been made about this subject but seems to pose some interesting questions.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/23/3073696.htm?section=justin

People convicted of drug trafficking would be jailed for at least a decade.
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If this proposed law/legislation is passed i wonder what sort of impact this would have and how much of a detterant it would be to traffickers/dealers.

In turn could it be seen that such a law would have a noticeable impact upon prices, availability, quality and the like for substances in Victoria?
 
Vic Coalition unveils child abuse, sentencing reforms
Updated Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:06pm AEDT
The Victorian Coalition has vowed to extend the requirement for mandatory reporting of child abuse into the family home.

Currently, school teachers, medical professionals and other welfare officers are required to report suspected abuse.

The Opposition says it will make it an offence for family members to fail to protect a child and allow a child to die through neglect or abuse.

Opposition leader Ted Baillieu says it is a step in the right direction.

"We believe this will be a positive step in protecting children, and empowering those who are otherwise subject to all sorts of pressures...to not act," he said.

"We need to create that obligation, so that people know they're obliged to act to protect children."


Minimum sentences

Meanwhile, the Coalition has moved to bolster its law and order credentials, announcing a policy to significantly toughen sentences for serious crime if it wins Saturday's election.


The Coalition would impose mandatory minimum sentences for crimes such as murder, which would attract a minimum 20 year sentence.

People convicted of drug trafficking would be jailed for at least a decade.

The Opposition's spokesman Robert Clark acknowledges the Coalition will have to provide more prison funding to allow for more offenders spending more time in jail.

He has accused Labor of going 'soft on crime' and says current Victorian sentencing practices are out of line with community expectations.

"The baseline sentences will be both the starting point and remain the centre point for every sentence for a serious crime in Victoria," he said.

"If the judge fails to base their sentence on the baseline sentence laid down by parliament, the court of appeal will be empowered and be required to bring them back into line."

The Attorney-General Rob Hulls has attacked the plan, saying it will not reduce crime rates and is not supported by the legal profession.

He says he does not believe sentencing is always out of line with community expectations.

Mr Hulls says taking a mandatory approach will impact on the civil liberties of Victorians.

"It's also important that each individual case is dealt with on its merits," he said.

"There are 90,000 sentences handed down in our courts each year, a very small number of those are appeals.

"Yes, sometimes judges do get it wrong, but we have an individual appeals process to ensure that any sentence incorrectly imposed is corrected."
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Added article:

Not really sure how it would impact us, I'll need to sleep on it before having a decent argument.
 
That's interesting as technically 2 pills in Canberra is considered trafficking.

The numbers for Psilocin are equally as low nation wide.
 
So am I right in assuming when they refer to trafficking, they are talking about drug dealing as opposed to drug smuggling across boarders? A decade for selling some marijuana seems absolutely excessive. Also, some of the thresholds for over personal use are quite low, particularly those for pills being 3plus, or speed or coke being over a gram.

To be honest, I doubt this would get through, at least not without tweaking of the current laws. You would have huge amounts of addicts and recreational users incarcerated with massive amounts needed to be spent on the criminal justice system and jails in particular. Though the liberal government may want to put further privatisation of prisons (like the US) to cope with this burden - not a good thing.

Anyway, this law sucks.
 
psytaco said:
So am I right in assuming when they refer to trafficking, they are talking about drug dealing as opposed to drug smuggling across boarders?
Click to expand...

You don't even have to move anything across borders, carrying a trafficable amount across town is still trafficking.

Dealing is treated as supply.
 
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Yeah this would be messed up.
Imagine getting ten years jail for giving a mate a couple grams of pot....

Definitely a bad sign in the wrong direction.
 
Great, looking at some funny numbers here.
Victoria is big on ghb right?
apparently 2 grams is trafficking.

So less than a normal dose of street 1,4b/g = ten years. lol?
 
"We believe this will be a positive step in protecting children, and empowering those who are otherwise subject to all sorts of pressures...to not act," he said.

"We need to create that obligation, so that people know they're obliged to act to protect children."
Click to expand...

It's quotes like this, that make me furious.
 
^ brings to mind another quote:

Adolf Hitler said:
The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.
Click to expand...

That said I don't know if I can fault the intent of the new child abuse reforms. It's the mandatory sentencing that irks me.
 

Moves to weed out retailers and make bongs a pipe dream
John Elder
December 5, 2010

500911159-420x0.jpg

Emily with some of the bongs for sale in Off Ya Tree. the newly-elected Coalition government plans to introduce legislation outlawing the sale and possession of bongs. Photo: Meredith O'Shea

THE ''green'' movement in Victoria has been dealt another blow by Premier Ted Baillieu: his election promise to ban the bong wasn't just smoke and mirrors.

The newly-elected Coalition government will introduce legislation outlawing the sale and possession of bongs, the water pipes popular with some cannabis users and, until now, available legally in more than 100 outlets across Victoria.

Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge told The Sunday Age the required amendments to the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 will be tabled next year in line with previous bans of ice pipes and cocaine kits. Consumer Affairs Victoria inspectors will police the ban.

Ms Wooldridge said there would be an education period for retailers - essentially a transition period leading up to enforcement. ''This isn't about surprising retailers and penalising them for something they didn't know about. We will do our best that people are informed,'' Ms Wooldridge said.

She said the ban may take in other smoking paraphernalia, such as hash pipes, but would not include ''hubbly-bubbly pipes'', or hookahs, which are gaining popularity in Middle Eastern-themed cafes.

''This is about reducing access to cannabis-smoking, particularly for younger people … not targeting people who undertake certain cultural practices,'' she said.

Bong retailers were scornful of the move. Jim Kouts, managing director of the Off Ya Tree chain - which has 16 stores across Australia and has been in business for 33 years - said the ban made no sense. ''During the prohibition of alcohol, they did not also seek to prohibit drinking glasses. It is exactly the same thing,'' he said.

Mr Kouts said bongs were the safest way to smoke cannabis because the smoke was water cooled. Bongs would still be available online or might be made at home despite the ban, he said. The ban would have no impact on the level of cannabis use, he said.

In a street poll on Friday, The Sunday Age found little enthusiasm for the ban: six out of eight people gave the bong a thumbs up.

Australians rank among the world's top cannabis users, according to a 2009 paper published in British medical journal The Lancet.

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW this year reported the number of Australians seeking hospital treatment with cannabis-related problems had jumped 30 per cent since 2002.

with BEN MARTIN


The Age
 
Not very clever, but not unexpected either. Shows how much drug policy can be affected by state politics, changes at a national level may involve the direction and attitude of policy but it's really state governments that attempt to implement stupidity like this that affects our daily lives.
 
It doesn't work by the way. You can buy rather expensive and pretty "oil pourers" here in Queensland, several years after bongs have been banned. These lovely glass pieces come with a metal pouring spout that has a small hole in it. Conveniently this cap can be removed for cleaning, but just be careful that you don't accidently try and replace it upside down. ;)
6001.jpg

6003.jpg


They even come with a glass cap. Available in all good kitchen stores or any where you can buy rizzla's and a Ramones t-shirt =D
 
I'm a father of 1 soon to be 2 children, I cherish her (them) with my life but FUCK ME if I want some government to tell me how they are protecting my/the children. Of course, the apathetic people known as "society" who really don't give a shit are the ones truly making this happen. *IF* the people got together and wanted their/any civil rights protected, the government WOULD listen but they know Mr + Mrs average Joe Bloggs with 2.4 kids don't really care as long as they can sit + watch tv, get fatter on McDonalds for dinner after work and not be directly affected.

I didn't vote for these cunts, I put family first last, and Liberal 5th in my vote(s) in the state election. Even though I don't "touch" illicits anymore, it still maddens me how the hell mandatory sentencing can be introduced when there is somewhat overwhelming evidence showing this just doesn't work, either as a deterrent for the main and to lower crime. I wonder what will happen when all this new crime "being invented" (i.e more people in jails etc) will cost more to house them yet the Libs want to show up Labor by having more of a surplus. Other monies will need to come in, more taxes, more speeding fines so therefore more fines will be needed from us (citizens)

Oh btw, I'm not happy about this :P Sorry if language is too strong, I mainly post on a couple forums where the C word is 'the norm' (bikeme for the win!), so if needed, could mods edit if needed and not just delete? Sorry if I'm giving you some workload by modding this but OH MY GOD the cunce known as The Coalition are going to bring darker times on for us, less civil rights blah blah. Labor are roughly as bad but I think the Coalition will be worse.
 
Yeah this happened in basically every other state years ago and they check Odff ya Tree about once a year.
FAIL
Anyone can still buy crackies and bongs
 
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