Court's cannabis ruling jeopardises 20 cases

[grace]

A SLEW of impending drug trials have been jeopardised by a court's ruling that the possession of cannabis plant material is a crime only if the material is dry.

 

The Advertiser understands that authorities are dismayed by a decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal to uphold the acquittal of an alleged drug trafficker.

 

The ruling - that cannabis leaves, seeds and stalks must be dry to be considered controlled drugs - affects any person charged before September 2 last year. That means up to 20 trials, slated for the next nine months, are likely to fail.

 

Those trials have yet to go ahead because of the District Court's chronic backlog and legislation prioritising sex cases over all other matters.

 

"This kills nine months of potential cannabis convictions for us," a source said.

 

"The laws have changed since, but that doesn't help us with these older cases."

 

In February 2009 a man was arrested for possession of 3kg of drying cannabis material.

 

The District Court this year ordered that he be acquitted because the "material in question was drying, but not dried".

 

The court ruled he had not breached the Controlled Substances Act (1984), which only forbids possession of "dried plant material".

 

The Act was amended in September 2009 - removing the word "dried".

 

Prosecutors subsequently challenged the acquittal in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

 

They said they feared for "about 20 cases in the wings" that pre-dated the amendment and would therefore be heard under the previous legislation.

 

Prosecutors argued that fresh plant materials were a combination of drug and water, and should be considered illegal.

 

In a unanimous decision, the court dismissed the appeal. Chief Justice John Doyle said the trial judge's reading of the law was "correct".

 

"There is no escaping the fact that (the Act) has identified dried cannabis plant material as the controlled drug," Justice Doyle said.

 

"There is no evidence to support a finding that, in February 2009, (the man) was in possession of dried plant material." He understood why prosecutors had "endeavoured to avoid this conclusion", he said.

 

"Uncertainty as to whether material is dried is likely to result in some prosecutions failing."

 

Attorney-General John Rau said he had asked prosecutors to consider if the Act should be further amended "to allow the law to be enforced as intended". He said it was "not currently possible to say" if the 20 upcoming trials would go ahead.

 

 

Author: SEAN FEWSTER

Date: 5 August 2010

Source: Adelaide Advertiser

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-a...3-1225901302842

 

[Terry Wright]

What a joke!!

 

Here's my take on it.

 

RED ALERT - Deadly Pot Growers to Go Free!

 

 

 

Regards

 

Terry Wright

The Australian Heroin Diaries

[cybergenesis]

Wouldn't you think you had been smoking some good weed if you were one of the people aquited.

 

I have decided if I am ever arrested for Pot I will blow smoke inside the court.