NEW LAW HALVES AMOUNT OF CANNABIS TEENS CAN CARRY

The amount of cannabis that people under 18 can carry for personal use
without being charged has been halved under legislation that came into force
last week.

Previously, police had a discretion to caution or charge under-18s who were
carrying up to 30 grams of cannabis for personal use. Now they may carry no
more than 15 grams of the drug for personal use - the same maximum amount as
adults.

The scheme was an initiative of the 1999 Drug Summit to keep young people
out of the criminal justice system. By August, under the scheme, police had
cautioned almost 4000 people in 16 months for possessing cannabis.

The Greens have labelled the change a backward step, which will criminalise
young people unnecessarily.

But Attorney-General Bob Debus said most cautions were issued to young
people caught possessing amounts of cannabis "at the lower end of the
scale".

"Taking into account the practical reality that police use the cautioning
power for relatively small amounts of cannabis only, it does not make much
sense to have on the statute books a power to caution for the larger
amount," he said.

Police will retain some discretion "in exceptional circumstances" to caution
young people possessing more than 15 grams of cannabis.

Mr Debus said this could happen "where it would be in the interests of
rehabilitation and appropriate in all the circumstances to do so".

But Greens Upper House MP, Lee Rhiannon, said the changes to the law ran
counter to the arguments the Government had used when introducing the higher
limits originally.

Ms Rhiannon said criminalising the possession of cannabis did not help the
rehabilitation of young people, for many of whom the possession of small
amounts was a minor offence and a common occurrence.

"This amendment will lead to young people coming into contact with the
criminal justice system in a way that is not sensible, fair or just," she
said.

"It exposes the fact that cannabis cautioning was only ever an aberration by
the Government."

Ms Rhiannon said that, while the Government was boasting that the cautioning
system was keeping young people out of jail and the courts, it was
introducing tougher laws which criminalised young people.

Mr Debus also rejected Opposition criticism that the higher limits for
under-18s had allowed drug dealers to use them as couriers. He said police
had previously used their discretion to charge young people carrying small
amounts of drugs if officers believed they were dealing in drugs.

The law, which came into effect last Friday, was passed by Parliament just
before the summer break.

Hours later, it legalised the use of sniffer dogs to detect drugs in certain
places, ruled illegal by a Sydney magistrate last month.