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Anyone caught with a gram of heroin, ice or cocaine will have three chances before being charged under sweeping changes to Queensland law.
Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk was set to announce the change later this week before details leaked early in an email sent by a senior police official.
The reform will go into effect next year and will include tougher penalties for drug traffickers, with the maximum sentence of 25 years increased to life in prison.
Residents carrying a small amount of illicit drugs will receive a warning from the police the first time they are caught.
They will then be offered the opportunity to participate in a drug diversion program the second and third time they are caught by the police.
Residents caught carrying a gram of heroin, ice or cocaine will have three chances before being charged under sweeping changes to Queensland law (file image)
Residents will only receive a notice to appear in court for a possession charge the fourth time they are found with the small amount of drugs on them.
The three strikes rule will be among the most relaxed in the country and Victoria will offer fewer opportunities before threatening a person with conviction.
The one gram limit is more generous than in other states with a small amount defined as one quarter of the weight in NSW.
The reform places Queensland behind only South Australia and the ACT.
The ACT will decriminalize possession later this year, while South Australia accepts possession of up to two grams and has unlimited offers for diversionary programs.
Ms Palaszczuk and her cabinet have been working on reforms with the police in a joint effort to tackle juvenile delinquency and ease the workload on officers.
Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Wheeler sent an email to thousands of employees announcing the changes before they were leaked to the public. the aussie reported
“The bill enhances the program available to police to effectively deal with minor drug-related crimes, diverting minor offenders from the criminal justice system through a tired evidence-based health response,” it said. read in the email.
The message with Police Minister Mark Ryan saying the police force had called for the reforms has since been recalled.
They have all confirmed that this approach is a win-win: better community safety outcomes and better use of police and judicial resources,” he said.
The move comes as Palaszczuk’s government tries to tackle a rising wave of youth crime that has led to car thefts and home invasions in Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa.
Breaching bail will once again become a separate offense for young people in Queensland after a sweeping change by the state government.
Ms Palaszczuk and her cabinet have been working on reforms with the police in a joint effort to tackle juvenile delinquency and ease the workload on officers (file image)
Queensland cabinet ministers have consistently rejected the opposition-favored measure to curb youth crime, but Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk now says it will be reintroduced.
Ms Palaszczuk’s Labor government removed breaching bail as an offense for children in 2015.
The move to reinstate it came after hearing from the community, he said, and is “in the spirit of bipartisanship.”
“The public has been talking about this, and this is a government that listens,” Palaszczuk said Monday.
Asked if the move was merely symbolic, the prime minister said legislation to be submitted to state parliament on Tuesday would clarify the details.
The government has previously passed laws to revoke the presumption of bail for serious repeat offenders.
In December, Juvenile Justice Minister Leanne Linard said that the last time breaching bail was an offense it did not work and that the existing presumption against bail was more effective.
As it is, magistrates take bail status as a factor in deciding penalties if a young person reoffends.
The change will make breaching bail conditions a separate offense, and advocacy organizations worry more children will be locked up before repeat offenders.
“All of this will further increase the number of children in prison at enormous cost to taxpayers and with devastating impact on the life trajectories of those children,” the executive director of the Prison Reform Initiative said in a statement. Justice, Mindy Sotiri.
“Increasing the use of incarceration for children and expanding the net of the criminal justice system so that more children end up incarcerated will increase the risk of recidivism.”