South Australia Attorney General Michael Atkinson Tuesday introduced legislation to the state parliament that would ban drug-making recipes and the possession of equipment that could be used to produce drugs without a reasonable excuse. The measure is aimed primarily at marijuana growers.
In remarks reported by The Age [14], Atkinson said people would have to prove why they have equipment used in the hydroponic cultivation of marijuana or face up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
"We want to make it very hard for drug cultivators and manufacturers in South Australia," he told reporters. "We think they're a pest, they're a nuisance, they're noxious and that we ought to make their lives so unbearable they might even go to another jurisdiction."
Atkinson said he isn't sure yet which items will be proscribed, but he would work with police to identify items used in hydroponic marijuana cultivation and other illicit drug laboratories. Atkinson did not say how the proposed law would be implemented.