Quill Posted August 5, 2010 Court's cannabis ruling jeopardises 20 cases SEAN FEWSTER From: The Advertiser August 04, 2010 8:01PM 11 Drug bust Police uncover a large cannabis crop inside an Allenby Gardens business. .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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Deb-One-Amine Posted August 5, 2010 (edited) Wow i knew that strain on the system could cause cases to fail but a loop hole, thats great but when it was in force With the unamened (dried plant material)could charges covering other wet plant meterial be also in borderline of a false charges? Edited August 5, 2010 by The Deb-One-Amine Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr me Posted August 5, 2010 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 source is worried about having to some real work by solving sex crimes as apposed to busting people for having a plant. Someone needs their head checked. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
No_One Posted August 5, 2010 You're forgeting this particular plant material causes the sex crimes so if that goes so do the sex crimes - Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
