MEDIA RELEASE

Parliamentary committee holding final hearings into

Drugs of Dependence (Personal Use) Amendment Bill 2021

This Select Committee will wrap up its hearings on Thursday and Friday this week in the Prince Edward Island Room at the Legislative Building. The program is:

	Thursday, 29 July 2021			Friday, 30 July 2021
Time	Witness		Time	Witness
12.30 pm	Winnunga NAHCS		9.30 am	Families & Friends for Drug Law Reform
1 pm	360 Edge		10 am	ACTCOSS
1.30pm	Health Care Consumers’ Assoc.		10.30 am	Break
2 pm	Break		10.45 am	ANU Drug Research Network
2.15 pm	Burnet Institute		11.15 am	Salvation Army
2.45 pm	Uniting		11.45 am	CAHMA
3.15 pm	Harm Reduction Australia		12.15 pm	Lunch
3.45 pm	Alcohol and Drug Foundation		1.50 pm	Dr Alex Wodak
4.15 pm	Close		2.20 pm	Break
			2.35 pm	ACT Policing
			3.15 pm	ACT Government
			4 pm	Close

The hearings will be live streamed at ACT Legislative Video on Demand.

The Committee is inquiring into the Drugs of Dependence (Personal Use) Amendment Bill 2021, which seeks to lower the penalty for simple drug offences (i.e., the possession of small quantities of drugs such as MDMA, cocaine and heroin). It also provides for simple drug offences to be treated in the same way in which simple cannabis offences are treated.

The Committee is examining the Bill, policy best practice, the impacts of current ACT policy, and funding for drug control and harm reduction.

27 July 2021

STATEMENT ENDS.

Committee Chair, Mr Peter Cain MLA on (02) 6205 1927

Committee Secretary on (02) 6205 0129 or at LASelectCommitteeDDAB2021@parliament.act.gov.au