GREENS ACT ON DRUG BILL

GREENS (WA) will propose changes to the Cannabis Control Bill to relieve
pressure on suppliers of hydroponic equipment and save parents from
prosecution when children smoke at home.

Under the Bill, hydroponic equipment retailers could be charged for
supplying equipment that they "reasonably ought to know" could be used to
grow cannabis.

MLC Christine Sharp said her party was concerned about the subjective
judgment that the retailers were required to make of customers to work
within the law.

"I am having an amendment drafted that would replace 'reasonably ought to
know' with 'knowingly'," she said.

Dr Sharp said the provisions of the Bill as they stood could have an undue
impact on small retailers at the expense of bigger ones who had less
contact with customers.

In addition, she wanted to extend provisions in the Bill that exempted
people from prosecution when in company with others smoking cannabis.

Dr Sharp said exemptions also should apply to parents who allowed children
to use cannabis at home in preference to having them use the drug on the
streets.

The Bill is having its second reading in the Legislative Council.

WA's hydroponics industry has sought a variety of legal opinion including
Tom Percy QC over the "reasonably ought to know" clause of the Bill and
sent it to ALP members of Parliament.

An industry letter to the MPs dated May 25 said Mr Percy found the wording
posed "a real danger ... that the objective nature of the test might snare
prersons who subjectively believed that they were selling to a bona fide
purchaser".

The letter said Mr Percy noted that "any conviction for an offence under
this proposed section would expose the accused person to the loss of all
his assets, irrespective of how they were obtained".

WA Hydroponics Association spokesman Grant Mahy said four legal sources had
now given damning opinion on the "reasonably ought to know" clause and it
should be amended.

The Bill is expected to be debated next week.