Source: Hobart Mercury (Australia) Contact: http://www.themercury.com.au/ Copyright: News Limited 1999 Pubdate: 7 Jan 1999 Page: 5 Author: Ellen Whinnett, Police Reporter MORE CAUTIONS FOR DRUG USERS Multiple charges linked under first-offence warning policy TASMANIA Police's drug policy - already one of the most liberal in the country - has been broadened again. A directive issued by senior police has expanded the cannabis cautioning program to allow pcop1e facing multiple drug charges to escape with a caution. The policy has generated a mixed response from operational police. Some believe it is a sensible approach while others say it is too lenient. Acting Police Commissioner Jack Johnston denied it was a softening of policy, while Opposition police spokesman Rene Hidding accused the State Government of going easy on drug crime. Under the radical cannabis cautioning program which came into effect on July 1, people caught with up to 50g of marijuana could escape with a caution if they had never come to police attention for drugs before and the offence was not linked with any other offence. The person caught with the drugs avoided a conviction. However, police had been reluctant to use the discretionary caution and had still laid charges on the basis that people who failed to state their source of supply were committing two offences. A now directive states that, for the purpose of this program, people who use and possess cannabis, possess a smoking device and fail to state their source of supply, are deemed to have committed only one offence. This compares with the situation in the courts, where people facing the four charges would usually receive four fines, often adding up to several hundred dollars. One police officer described the changes as pathetic. "We've gone caution mad," he said. Another officer said that if a person broke the law by having an illegal drug or a smoking device, they should he charged. "We are not reacting to what the public wants. We're telling them what's going to happen." he said. A third officer said he believed the policy shift was a sensible move which would free up police resources and only reflected the situation in the courts. "It gives us more time to chase the bigger guys," he said. Mr Johnston said the directive, issued last month, did not broaden the program. "It simply clarified the original intention," he said. Cautioning was still discretionary and related only to first-time offenders. Mr Hidding said the original program had been introduced under a Liberal government when it was made clear that it related to only one offence. He accused the Labor Government of going soft on crime and said Police Minister David Llewellyn should explain why four different offences could be treated as one offence. "Why shouldn't Tasmanians think that he's gone soft on crime by broadening these guidelines to now include four offences?" he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski