Until amended, please oppose enactment of the Serious Drug Offences chapter of the Model Criminal Code
The Bill transforms minor players in the drug trade and users into “serious criminals”.
The code should not be implemented in its present form. It should exclude from the regime of draconian penalties the small-scale activities that are commonly undertaken by users of illicit drugs – those suffering from addiction and risk-taking young people.
Parents will be horrified to learn that a teenager at a dance party who resells to a friend a single ecstasy tablets that he has bought for a night out together is a ‘serious drug offender’ and could face a maximum penalty of 10 years (clause 6.2.4).
Someone who grows a couple of cannabis plants could easily end up possessing 300 grams or more of dried cannabis. This amounts to a commercial quantity which under clause 6.2.5 it is presumed he or she has for trafficking. Under the code that person would face a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment.