Update regarding legislation signed into law

On 23 November 2016, the Governor General signed into law two pieces of legislation vital to the Commonwealth's medicinal cannabis framework.

The Narcotic Drugs Legislation Amendment Act 2016 allows for the protection of sensitive law enforcement information that the Office of Drug Control is required to consider when assessing cannabis licence applications. This means law enforcement agencies can be confident that information provided by them to help assess applications will not be released, which would potentially compromise police operations.

The Narcotic Drugs (Licence Charges) Act 2016 enables ODC to accept payments for the annual charge applicable to cannabis licence holders. Annual charges are used by the Office of Drug Control to fund unannounced inspections and other compliance functions.