Illegal dealing in legal drugs—A serious and organised crime law enforcement dilemma

Illegal drugs and the use of legal drugs to manufacture illegal drugs are major sources of funds for serious and organised crime networks. In 2005, the Commonwealth repealed the former ‘narcotic goods’ illegal drug offences in the Customs Act 1901 and created a wide range of new offences in the Criminal Code (Cth). New and more serious offences were also created to address the intended manufacture of illegal drugs from otherwise legal drugs imported into Australia, known as ‘border controlled pre-cursors’, such as pseudoephedrine, commonly found in cold tablets.

The criminalisation of the intended illegal use of legal products poses special prosecution challenges. Finding ways to address those challenges effectively will help to stem the flow of funds to serious and organised crime. This may also help to deal with similar issues, such as the illegal use of legal performance-enhancing drugs in sport, an increasing organised crime interest.

The purpose of this presentation is to look at current issues in prosecuting precursor offences, including:

• the recent trends in relation to importations, particularly the growth in precursor importations;
• the policy tension in dealing with the importation and subsequent dealing in legal precursors capable of being used for legal and for illegal purposes;
• the challenge of successfully investigating and prosecuting accessories who are not the actual importers—the loss of the extended legal liability concept of ‘knowingly concerned’; and
• chemical changes in drug types and the ability to deal with changes through legislation—analogue provisions and regulation powers to schedule substances to stay one step ahead of organised crime.

The presentation will also make some recommendations for possible legislative amendment to enhance the effectiveness of investigations and prosecutions.