The legal danger of personal drug use

Statistically Australians are very close to being crowned the world wide champions of recreational drug use. Not a very proud crown to aspire to. Alcohol, Tobacco and prescription drugs each kill more than any illicit drug on the market. But you know what is in your beer, you don't know what is in illegal drugs.

Illegal drug possession continues to soar with a 30% increase over the past 5 years according the BOSCAR statistics. Violent crime however is at a 30 year record low. There seems to be no connection between the two statistics.

Possession in Australia has unusually low thresholds in respect to certain drugs. Over a few grams of most drugs will see you charged with deemed supply.

The indictable amount for cocaine for example can easily see a person facing the District court facing a prison term. The indictable amount is over >5g but under <250g

This Grey area can attract sentences of 1-10 years imprisonment depending on the subjective case.

A normal sentence for say 125grams of cocaine would be around 3 years.

The NSW drugs table is an essential guidepost in relation to each and every drug currently available and how the law treats each drug.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/dmata1985256/sch1.html