Introduction

6 Feb

This chapter outlines the most common drug offences and their penalties. This chapter does not deal with offences involving medical practitioners, chemists or licensed sellers of drugs and only deals with the most serious types of drug offences in a limited way.

The law concerning illegal drugs is complicated and highly technical. Therefore, anyone charged with a drug offence is strongly advised to seek legal advice (see Chapter 2.3: Legal services that can help).
The law concerning illegal drugs in Victoria is derived from two main sources:
- Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) (‘DPCS Act’) as amended; and
- Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) sch 1 (‘Criminal Code’) as amended.
The other laws that regulate drugs in Victoria are:
- Customs Act 1901 (Cth) (‘Customs Act’); and
- Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
Together, these four pieces of legislation create state, federal and extra-territorial drug offence laws.