Posts Categorized: Drug Law

The Injustice of NSW Drug Driving Laws Has Been Compounded

Drug Driving

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In a 4 July 2022 letter on drug driving laws, Drive Change campaign lead David Heilpern explained to NSW Labor MLC Chris Rath that when he was a NSW Magistrate, he’d sentenced “literally hundreds of defendants”, who were on cannabis medicine yet convicted over drug driving. Indeed, part of… Read more »

Unjust Drug Driving Laws Persist, Eight Years on from Historic Ruling

Drug Driving Laws

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Eight years ago last Thursday, in Lismore Local Court, then NSW Magistrate David Heilpern ruled in favour of Joseph Carrall in regard to a drug driving charge, as he found the accused hadn’t consumed cannabis for “at least nine days prior” to testing positive for driving with its presence in… Read more »

Drug Driving is an Absolute Liability Offence, District Court Judge Finds

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim A man was driving along Cowpasture Road in southwest Sydney’s Horningsea Park, close to midnight on 12 September 2020, when the manner of his driving caught the attention of some NSW police officers, who promptly directed him to pull his utility over. The officers subjected the driver to a… Read more »

Sentence Reduced as Judge Failed to Consider Impact of COVID in Prison

COVID in Prison

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim NSW police commenced an investigation in June 2017, which led to detectives identifying eight men involved in a drug manufacturing operation producing MDA (3, 4-methylenedioxyamphetamine), a substance usually sold as MDMA on the street but can differ in effect. The joint criminal enterprise involved three properties belonging to one of… Read more »

NSW Police Given the Power to Search Past Drug Offenders Without a Warrant

NSW Police

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim In mid-May, news hit that western Sydney is in the grips of a gang war, which involves feuding between the Alameddine and Hamzy families, and has resulted in 13 dead gang members. So, the NSW Police Force has launched Taskforce Erebus in response. In its first week, Erebus had reportedly… Read more »

Commonwealth Drug Offences in Australia: Drug Importation and Beyond

Shipping containers

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim PM Scott Morrison, home affairs minister Karen Andrews and AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw lined up before the press last June, to announce the success of the transnational drug crime investigation known locally as Operation Ironside. Spruiked as the “most significant operation in policing history”, Ironside had, at that time, resulted in… Read more »