#9403 - Drug Offences - Principles of Criminal Law

Exam The Principles of Criminal Law Notes DRUG OFFENCES SEMESTER ONE | 59 Notes The Principles of Criminal Law Key Concepts * * * * * Drugs Misuse Act 1987 Why is there a separate act for drugs? o Specialized area with specialized rules Historically, other faculties dealt with drugs (Health Act etc) Dangerous drug Cipher, (plugged into the offences) Anything which is in schedule to the regulations Courts do not need to determine this Principle issues SS? There are hundreds of drugs and the drug market takes advantage of the time it takes to identify a drug as being dangerous SS? "designer drugs" Definition of dangerous drug aims to catch global definitions of drugs rather than naming the drug itself s4C assesses the intention of the accused in relation to dangerous drugs Schedule 1 drugs are more serious than Schedule 2 drugs Schedule 3 contains quantities of drugs at which it becomes illegal for certain dangerous drugs Schedule 6 contains controlled substances Schedule 8C - controlled items Drugs Misuse Act 1986 s116 Criminal Code to be read with Act The Criminal Code shall, with all necessary adaptations, be read and construed with this Act. s117 Attempt to commit offence (1) In lieu of the Criminal Code, sections 535 and 536 the following provision shall apply--- 'A person who attempts to commit a crime defined in part 2 is deemed to be guilty of the intended crime and is liable to the same punishment and forfeiture as a person who commits the intended crime.'. (2) Where a person is charged summarily with a crime defined in part 2 that person may be convicted in those summary proceedings of attempting to commit that crime. * 60 | The Drugs Misuse Act is to be viewed in lieu of the Criminal Code Exam The Principles of Criminal Law Notes Drug Trafficking Drugs Misuse Act 1986 s5 Trafficking in dangerous drugs (1) A person who carries on the business of unlawfully trafficking in a dangerous drug is guilty of a crime. Maximum penalty--- (a) if the dangerous drug is a thing specified in the Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 1---25 years imprisonment; or (b) if the dangerous drug is a thing specified in the Drugs Misuse Regulation 1987, schedule 2---20 years imprisonment. (2) If a court sentences a person to a term of imprisonment for an offence against subsection (1), the court must make an order that the person must not be released from imprisonment until the person has served a minimum of 80% of the prisoner's term of imprisonment for the offence. (3) Subsection (2) does not apply if the court sentences the person to a term of imprisonment and makes either of the following orders under the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 for the person--- (a) an intensive correction order; (b) an order that the whole or a part of the term of imprisonment be suspended. Offence is a person who carries on the business of unlawfully trafficking drugs Have to look at in each case which part is about the business Prosecution for trafficking does not need to prove they are "at the top of the tree" and indeed a drug courier can be a trafficker * * * Quail's Case * * * * Litigation arose out of the legislative environment of the late 80s - trafficking at the time was life imprisonment In a context where trafficking is one component, Ambrose J: shown he has knowingly engaged in the movement from the source to the user and that movement has commercial connotations Macross J: As soon as there is commercial insight, there has been trafficking. No onus on the prosecution to prove the intended destination, only that the commercial transaction occurred If a person buys drugs then shares it with friends, it doesn't destroy the commercial chain of the drug - it has still been trafficked SEMESTER ONE | 61 Notes The Principles of Criminal Law * * * 62 | Proof of drug trafficking is not limited to the repetition of sales, negotiation, interstate activity or regular courier use Dent's Case It is not necessary that the consideration be money for the purpose of trafficking, or that the business has more than one customer Social distribution is not captured underneath trafficking Trafficking is an indictable offence - penalty depending on what Schedule the drug comes from Total weight of the drug does not matter for this purpose