POLICE PUSH TO CHANGE ONUS OF GUILT ON SUPPLIERS

The Victoria Police wants tougher laws to prosecute illegal drug
manufacturers. The police want to remove the presumption of innocence
for people found with substantial quantities of ingredients used to
make illegal drugs. It would mean that people caught with such
ingredients would be presumed guilty unless they could persuade the
courts they were not planning to use them to make illicit drugs.

Or, if this was unacceptable, police suggested the Government consider
introducing a new offence of possession of precursor chemicals or drug
manufacturing equipment without a lawful excuse. The proposals are
being considered by a state parliamentary committee, due to report on
its Inquiry into Amphetamine and "Party Drug" Use in mid-April.

A spokesman for Police Minister Andre Haermeyer said the idea of a new
offence "had some merit" but the Government would wait until the
report was handed down before it commented further.

The police say the overhaul is needed because it is too difficult to
successfully prosecute drug manufacturers under the current laws and
that a "reverse onus of proof" should apply in cases where it is
reasonably suspected the chemicals would be used to make illegal drugs.

"For a prosecution to succeed under the current legislation police
must first prove that a defendant found in possession of certain
materials has done so in the knowledge that the materials are for the
illicit manufacture of drugs. Under this section prosecutions usually
only succeed where the accused makes admissions as to their intent,"
police submitted to the inquiry. "It is rare for a single individual
in a criminal syndicate to possess all the precursors and equipment
used in the manufacturing process. Usually the chemicals and other
materials required . . . are deliberately stored separately.

"It is only when the actual manufacturing process is in progress and
all the chemicals and materials are present that the difficulty of
proving intent is lessened."

The Criminal Bar Association, Victoria Legal Aid and the Law Institute
of Victoria oppose the proposal, saying it would erode civil rights.

"We are deeply troubled by the view that the law should be altered and
citizens' rights to the presumption of innocence be removed simply
because the police find it difficult to gather sufficient evidence of
the requisite quality to establish a conviction," law institute
president Chris Dale told the inquiry.

Victoria Legal Aid managing director Tony Parsons was not convinced
the change would produce more convictions. "The police proposal to
reverse the onus of proof in respect of the manufacturing offence...
raises the real possibility of innocent persons who, unable to
establish their innocence, may be wrongly convicted of serious
criminal offences," he said. The Criminal Bar Association and law
institute prefer the second option of creating a new offence of
possession without lawful excuse.