written by Adele Stevens
Decriminalisation of cannabis use has been occurring in the ACT since the early 1990s. The Simple Cannabis Offence Notice (SCON) was introduced in 1992 and allowed people to grow 2 cannabis plants for their own use. This was followed by the decriminalisation of personal cannabis use (up to 50 grams and 2 plants per person) in January 2020 following the passing of the Cannabis personal use bill in 2019.
When the change in the 1990s occurred, there were no drug driving laws and so cannabis use was partially removed from the criminal justice system. However, with the introduction of drug driving laws in the 2000s, things changed. In April 2010, FFDLR made a submission to the ACT Government about the proposed drug driving laws. It is at
(https://www.ffdlr.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/FFDLR-Submission-to-Drugs-and-Driving-Laws-2010.pdf
Since the passage of these drug driving laws, which provide a zero tolerance for drug driving, there has been a new form of drug law enforcement as predicted by FFDLR in the above submission. Unlike alcohol, which has a .05 limit any cannabis detected by roadside testing, involves a penalty of loss of driving license for 3-12 months depending on first or subsequent offence.
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