The Law Handbook 2024

131 NOTE The law in this chapter is current as at 1 September 2023. Introduction This chapter outlines the most common drug offences and their penalties. This chapter does not deal with offences involving medical practitioners, chemists or licensed sellers of drugs. Always seek legal help The law concerning illegal drugs is complicated and highly technical. Therefore, anyone charged with a drug offence is strongly advised to seek legal advice (see Chapter 2.4: Legal services that can help). Relevant laws The law concerning illegal drugs in Victoria is derived from two main sources: • the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) (‘ DPCS Act ’) as amended; and • the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (‘ Criminal Code ’) as amended. The other laws that regulate drugs in Victoria are: • the Customs Act 1901 (Cth) (‘ Customs Act ’); and • the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988). Together, these four pieces of legislation create state, federal and extra-territorial drug offence laws. NOTE For the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, one penalty unit ( pu ) equals: • $192.31 under Victorian state law • $313 under Commonwealth law. See ‘A note about penalty units’ at the start of this book. Victorian state drug offences What do state laws cover? For the purposes of Victorian law, the term ‘drug’ means a drug of dependence. For the definition of a ‘drug of dependence’, see section 4(1) and schedule 11 of the DPCS Act. Amendments to the DPCS Act in 2017 added synthetic cannabis and other synthetic substances to the list of drugs of dependence, as well as ‘analogues’ of drugs. An analogue of a drug is a similar, but structurally modified, version of the drug. The DPCS Act creates the following main categories of drug offences: • use; • possession; • cultivation; and • trafficking. Use and possession offences are less serious than cultivation and trafficking offences. NOTE The DPCS Act was amended to enable a trial of a medically supervised injecting centre at North Richmond Community Health between 2018 and 2023. The trial was independently reviewed, with reports published in June 2020 and February 2023. The 2023 review found that the trial’s central objective of saving lives had been achieved. Part IIA of the DPCS Act now makes the service ongoing at the current site. Clients of the centre who use, supply, possess or administer ‘injecting centre drugs’ in a ‘permitted quantity’ in the centre are exempt from criminal liability (s 55K). Police officers are expected to exercise discretion and not charge people with offences relating to drugs of dependence when they are travelling to and from the injecting centre, and when they are in the vicinity of the centre for the purposes of attending the centre (s 55M). Drug offences 3.2 Contributor: Franky Bain, Accredited Criminal Law Specialist