Posts Categorized: Drug Law

Drug User Convicted of Manslaughter for Supplying Drugs Causing Death Succeeds on Appeal

Friends socialising

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Serotonin is a chemical in the brain that puts a person in a good mood. A lack of serotonin can make a person depressed. The drugs Moclobemide and Venlafaxine can be used to treat low serotonin levels. And a combination of these drugs can produce a psychoactive reaction, making… Read more »

Sentencing Judges Must Make Clear That Mitigating Factors Were Considered

Sentencing proceedings NSW

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim On 28 October 2022, Abbrar Abbas arrived at Sydney Airport, after two days in Fiji. On collecting his baggage and presenting his incoming passenger card to an Australian Border Force officer, the International student was taken to a baggage examination area, and a bottle of yellow liquid was found… Read more »

The Difference Between Cannabis Leaf and Plant for the Purpose of NSW Drug Offences

Cannabis plants

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim New South Wales police officers attended the residence of Jason Fear on 3 August 2021 to conduct a routine inspection under the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 (NSW), which establishes the NSW Child Protection Register that lists former inmates who’ve offended against children in a sexual or other… Read more »

Drink Driving and Drug Driving Laws in NSW: An Inconsistent and Unjust Regime

Driving Offences

“The risk of being involved in a serious car accident increases significantly when the driver’s blood alcohol range substantially exceeds the basic legal limit,” outlines a 2023 NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research report on sentencing high range prescribed concentration of alcohol drivers. “In particular”, underscored the BOCSAR researchers David Saffron and Marilyn Chilvers,… Read more »

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 »