MORE CAUTIONS FOR DRUG USERS

Multiple charges linked under first-offence warning policy

TASMANIA Police's drug policy - already one of the most liberal in the
country - has been broadened again.

A directive issued by senior police has expanded the cannabis cautioning
program to allow pcop1e facing multiple drug charges to escape with a caution.

The policy has generated a mixed response from operational police. Some
believe it is a sensible approach while others say it is too lenient.

Acting Police Commissioner Jack Johnston denied it was a softening of
policy, while Opposition police spokesman Rene Hidding accused the State
Government of going easy on drug crime.

Under the radical cannabis cautioning program which came into effect on
July 1, people caught with up to 50g of marijuana could escape with a
caution if they had never come to police attention for drugs before and the
offence was not linked with any other offence.

The person caught with the drugs avoided a conviction.

However, police had been reluctant to use the discretionary caution and had
still laid charges on the basis that people who failed to state their
source of supply were committing two offences.

A now directive states that, for the purpose of this program, people who
use and possess cannabis, possess a smoking device and fail to state their
source of supply, are deemed to have committed only one offence.

This compares with the situation in the courts, where people facing the
four charges would usually receive four fines, often adding up to several
hundred dollars.

One police officer described the changes as pathetic.

"We've gone caution mad," he said.

Another officer said that if a person broke the law by having an illegal
drug or a smoking device, they should he charged.

"We are not reacting to what the public wants. We're telling them what's
going to happen." he said.

A third officer said he believed the policy shift was a sensible move which
would free up police resources and only reflected the situation in the courts.

"It gives us more time to chase the bigger guys," he said.

Mr Johnston said the directive, issued last month, did not broaden the
program.

"It simply clarified the original intention," he said.

Cautioning was still discretionary and related only to first-time offenders.

Mr Hidding said the original program had been introduced under a Liberal
government when it was made clear that it related to only one offence.

He accused the Labor Government of going soft on crime and said Police
Minister David Llewellyn should explain why four different offences could
be treated as one offence.

"Why shouldn't Tasmanians think that he's gone soft on crime by broadening
these guidelines to now include four offences?" he said.