Aligning Penalties for Possessing Manufacturing Equipment under Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 with Guns, Explosive and Weapons Control Act 2021

Mr Cai Yinzhou asked the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry has conducted an assessment to align penalties for possessing manufacturing equipment under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 with those under the Guns, Explosive and Weapons Control Act 2021, which targets unauthorised possession of digital blueprints and major parts of firearms, to effectively combat domestic production of harmful drug-delivery systems.

The Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) criminalises the manufacture, supply, possession, import and export of equipment, materials or substances used for manufacturing controlled drugs. We do not criminalise the manufacturing of drug delivery systems, since paraphernalia that are misused for drug abuse could have legitimate uses. For example, syringes are used in medical settings.

We assess that the current provisions are adequate and it is not necessary to align the penalties between the MDA and the Guns, Explosives and Weapons Control Act 2021.