Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Act 2010

Interpretation.

1.— (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1977” means the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 ;

“advertisement” includes every form of advertisement, whether or not to the public, in a newspaper or other publication, on television or radio, by display of a notice, by electronic communication, including by means of the internet, or by any other means;

“certificate of analysis” shall be construed in accordance with section 17 ;

“consumption”, in relation to a psychoactive substance, means to consume the substance (whether or not the substance concerned has been dissolved or dispersed in or diluted or mixed with any other substance)—

(a) orally,

(b) by smoking, insufflating or inhaling it,

(c) by injecting it,

(d) by applying it externally to the body of the person, or

(e) by otherwise introducing it into the body of a person;

“controlled drug” has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Act of 1977;

“electronic” includes electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electro-magnetic, biometric, photonic and any other form of related technology;

“electronic communication” includes a communication of information in the form of data, text, images or sound (or any combination of them) by means of guided or unguided electromagnetic energy, or both;

“hydroponic”, in relation to cultivation, means the cultivation of plants in liquid containing nutrients under controlled conditions of light, temperature and humidity, without the use of soil;

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Law Reform;

“place” includes—

(a) a dwelling or other building,

(b) a structure or stall of any kind,

(c) a vehicle;

“psychoactive substance” means a substance, product, preparation, plant, fungus or natural organism which has, when consumed by a person, the capacity to—

(a) produce stimulation or depression of the central nervous system of the person, resulting in hallucinations or a significant disturbance in, or significant change to, motor function, thinking, behaviour, perception, awareness or mood, or

(b) cause a state of dependence, including physical or psychological addiction;

“sell”, in relation to a substance or object, means to sell or supply or cause to be sold or supplied, whether for profit or otherwise, either directly or through another person and includes—

(a) to offer for sale, to invite to buy, to distribute or to expose or keep for sale, supply or distribution, and

(b) to possess for any of the purposes referred to in paragraph (a);

“supply” includes giving without payment;

“vehicle” means any conveyance in or by which any person or thing, or both, is or are, as the case may be, transported which is designed for use on land, in water or in the air, or in more than one of those ways, and includes—

(a) a part of a vehicle,

(b) an article designed as a vehicle but not capable of functioning as a vehicle,

(c) any container, trailer, tank or any other thing which is or may be used for the storage of goods in the course of carriage and is designed or constructed to be placed on, in, or attached to, any vehicle.

(2) In this Act, a reference to the commission of an offence includes a reference to an attempt to commit the offence.