FDS Insight Magazine Nov - Dec 2022

9 The legislation says that the maximum penalty for possessing a small quantity will be one penalty unit, which at the moment would be $160. However, there is a line in the legislation that says the fine will be set at $100. So, this is like a slap on the wrist for small quantities of drugs compared to the 2 years in prison and 50 penalty units that currently apply to them? Yes. It’s that or drug diversion. We are relying on ACT police to show good judgement in knowing what the appropriate response is. Where someone needs help and drug diversion is well suited, that will happen. But not every individual who uses drugs is in need of drug diversion and the punishment is the removal of the drugs and a one hundred dollar fine. Recommendation 3 of the committee inquiry into the bill recommended a catch-all clause that would account for new and emerging drug trends. Is there a mechanism in the legislation that will provide for these sorts of changes or for drugs that aren’t currently listed on the table of the most commonly used psychoactive substances? A sensible amendment that the minister for health brought forward was to remove the substances that are included in the decriminalisation framework out of statute law and instead place them in the regulations, so the minister can update this. So, it’s possible now for the ACT to have a relevant and up-to-date list of substances that are causing harm in our community. You also instigated the legalisation of the adult possession and use of cannabis, which has been in place since 31 January 2020. As far as anyone you ask is concerned, this has not caused any issues whatsoever. Can you talk about the impact that it has had? And given that, how do you expect the shift to the decriminalisation of a broader range of illicit substances is going to go? When it comes to the legalisation of cannabis possession in the ACT, the sky has not fallen in. Broadly speaking, the same people who are using cannabis before those reforms continue to use cannabis and the people who were choosing not to use cannabis before those reforms, for the most part, are still choosing not to use cannabis. The early data shows that there was no increase in hospital presentations related to cannabis. There was no increase in drug driving related to cannabis. And we also saw that wastewater analysis showed that cannabis use in the ACT remained consistent with that of other jurisdictions and their use. The story is that there is not really a story. The people that said that changing the laws regarding cannabis would have a terrible impact on our community were being disingenuous. So, the lesson there is for the ACT when it comes to the recent reforms to decriminalise common illicit drugs is that our criminal laws do not have the