Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 - NSW ...

… rather than being on the edge of all of this it seems to me that you were pretty squarely in the middle. It was your house, there
were other persons there who were using drugs, there were drugs found which you have admitted belonged to you, and it is on the
basis of that and the equipment that was found which brings you here before the Court today. That indicates, as I said, not just a
passing interest in amphetamines particularly, but something that appears to be the subject of some organisation. 418
In another incident in the Southern Region, according to the event narrative, police had received “information that the occupants… [of a
unit] were in possession of prohibited drugs”. Police applied for and were granted a warrant. 419 Two women and a nine month old baby
were on the premises when police arrived. In their search, police found syringes, swabs and tourniquets, 2.8 grams of amphetamine, 2.4
grams of cannabis and 2 bongs. One woman was charged with allowing the premises to be used as drug premises, and the other was
charged with possession. At the conclusion of the event narrative, police note:
From locating the amphetamine and cannabis within the unit and the fact there were syringes, swabs and tourniquets, police are of
the opinion that the premises rented by the defendant… is commonly used in the administration of prohibited drugs. 420
5.7.9. Evidence of drug use on the premises, and supply
There were also several instances when police executed the search warrant and found inside the premises, people who were in the
process of injecting drugs. For example, in one instance it is recorded that, early one afternoon in July 2001, police arrived at a house in
the Northern Region to execute a search warrant. They document what happened in the event narrative as follows:
Immediately upon entry to the house police saw a male in the downstairs bedroom sitting on a bed with a tournequay around
his right arm and a syringe in his left hand. Upon seeing police the male squirted the contents of the syringe onto the floor. This
male was seen to have a puncture mark on his right hand with a small amount of blood coming from the wound, this wound was
consistent with a needle puncture mark, it was obvious to police that this male had or was about to inject himself with an illegal
substance. The male was spoken to and admitted he was about to inject himself with an illegal substance. 421
In this instance, police also found a silver foil with white powder in it, a number of used syringes and $15,000. They had also conducted
several successful undercover buys of heroin from the premises two months prior. After listing what was seized from the premises, and
describing what happened when they executed the search warrant, police concluded:
The above information together with the evidence conducting during the police operation in May indicate the defendant is the
owner and occupier of premises which is now described under legislation as being premises used as a drug house. 422
Therefore, in this instance, it appears that police had evidence that the premises was being used for both drug use, and supply.
418 Police v Martin Allan Dawson, 14 November 2001, p. 2.
419 The type of search warrant is not noted.
420 COPS event narrative, Southern Region, Incident 3, 12 March 2002.
421 COPS event narrative, Northern Region Incident 2, 27 July 2001.
422 Ibid.
NSW Ombudsman
Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 79