ACT Greens to push for amendments to drug decriminalisation bill

A fiery debate is expected in the Assembly with the Greens to put forward amendments to the bill, while the Canberra Liberals are still strongly opposed to the legislation.

An ACT government spokesman said it was expected that several members would want to contribute to the debate given the significance of the reforms.

Greens drug harm reduction spokesman Johnathan Davis said government amendments to the bill risked criminalising vulnerable people because the amendments retained criminal penalties.

"The ACT Greens have always championed drug law reform because we know that a compassionate society supports our most vulnerable, and that drug use should be considered a health issue, not a criminal one," Mr Davis said.

"The government's amendments as they stand will create a new arbitrary possession threshold that will retain criminal penalties.

"These thresholds ignore the strong evidence base we have that the existing thresholds we have for this purpose."

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The ACT government agreed to move ahead with a bill from Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson in the previous June sitting period but Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith flagged a number of amendments.

Under Mr Pettersson's bill, there would be a possession limit of 2 grams for cocaine, ice and heroin and 0.5 for ecstasy.

Proposed government amendments to the bill would include replacing the language of "possession limits" to "small quantities" and new thresholds would be introduced.

Government amendments would also create another offence where possessing multiple kinds of drugs, which total more than two "small quantities", could result in a $8000 fine or six months in prison.

The original bill had proposed that people caught with drugs up to the possession limit would be given a $100 fine as opposed to going through the justice system. But this has been amended so that police can choose to refer a person to a drug diversion program instead.

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