The Law Handbook 2024

136 SECTION 3: Fines, infringements and criminal law Part 1 contains the list of substances categorised by pure weight. Part 2 lists narcotic plants. Part 3 lists pure and mixed threshold quantities. Small quantity Small quantities attract much lower penalties for any drug offences. For a first offence of possession being heard by a Magistrates’ Court, there is a presumption in favour of a section 76 bond (see ‘Summary of penalties’, below). A small quantity of fresh or dried cannabis is 50 grams or less. The weight in grams of a small quantity of any drug that is not a narcotic plant is listed in schedule 11, Part 3, column 4 of the DPCS Act. The quantity includes the weight of any substance with which the drug is mixed. Traffickable quantity A traffickable quantity is defined by weight or number of plants (s 70(1) DPCS Act). The amounts are listed in schedule 11, Parts 1, 2 and 3, column 3 of the DPCS Act. ‘Traffickable quantity’ includes a drug that is not contained or mixed with another substance. This allows for the calculation of a traffickable quantity for a drug (specified in column 1 of Part 3 of schedule 11), either on the quantity specified in column 3 or column 3A. Narcotic plants The most common narcotic plant is cannabis. The traffickable weight for cannabis is 250 grams or 10 plants. The weight refers to fresh or dried cannabis and comprises all parts of the plant, including flower tops, leaves, stalks, stems, roots and seeds. The traffickable weight for the opium plant is 100 grams or 50 plants, while for the coca plant, the traffickable weight is 800 grams. The traffickable quantity of substances cont- aining THC (e.g. hashish or hash oil) is 25 grams. This amount is a mixed amount, so the proportion of THC to other substances is irrelevant. Note that the weight of cannabis reduces signif­ icantly once dried. If cannabis was weighed by a police botanist while fresh or just cut, its weight may make out a commercial quantity; however, at a subsequent weighing, once the plant has lost its moisture, the amount may be under the commercial quantity threshold. An accused is entitled to contest a police botanist’s certificate and have the court order that the cannabis be made available to a defence-appointed botanist (see ‘Certificate of analysis’, below). Other drugs Other drugs of dependence are no longer weighed in pure amounts. The relevant weight is now the weight of the whole mixture, including substances other than the drug. The table below shows the traffickable quantities of common drugs, where the weight is measured in mixed amounts. The 2017 amendments to the DPCS Act added synthetic substances (e.g. synthetic cannabis, 4-MMC (also known as mephedrone or ‘meow meow’), BZP, 1,4-BD, GBL and MDPV) to schedule 11. The complete list of drugs and traffickable quantities of drugs weighed in mixed amounts is found in schedule 11, Part 3, column 3 of the DPCS Act. Traffickable quantities of common drugs: Mixed weight Drug Traffickable quantity: Mixed weight Amphetamine 3 g Cocaine 3 g Heroin 3 g LSD 150 mg MDMA (ecstasy) 3 g The following table shows the traffickable quantities of common drugs where the weight is measured in pure amounts. Traffickable quantities of common drugs: Pure weight Drug Traffickable quantity: Pure weight Barbiturates 50.0 g Mescaline 7.5 g Methadone 2.0 g Magic mushroom (psilocybin) 0.1 g The complete list of drugs and traffickable quanti- ties of drugs weighed in pure amounts is found in schedule 11, Part 1, column 3 of the DPCS Act. Commercial quantity A commercial quantity is defined in section 70(1) of the DPCS Act. Anyone found guilty of trafficking a commercial quantity is liable to very severe penalties (see ‘Summary of penalties’, below). In Director of Public Prosecutions Reference No 1 of 2004; R v Nguyen [2005] VSCA 172, the court held that in order to prove the offence of trafficking a commercial